A chair can look like a fur-covered boulder, a creature of irregular shape, or a familiar object that seems to have lost its original structure. In the work of Charlotte Kingsnorth, London-based designer, furniture moves away from conventional geometries to take on soft volumes, tactile surfaces and almost organic forms. The result is a design that moves between sculpture and function, turning vintage chairs and unexpected materials into objects that seem to belong to a world halfway between the natural and the imaginary.
Rather than simply upholstering a piece of furniture, Charlotte Kingsnorth changes how it is perceived: what once looked rigid becomes soft, and what was recognizable takes on a new identity. Her chairs catch the eye precisely because they seem to escape any precise definition, suspended between objects to be used and forms to be looked at.
The starting point of many of her works is an existing structure, often a vintage chair that Kingsnorth dismantles, modifies or covers until it becomes unrecognizable. In the Hi!breed series, for example, traditional frames are transformed through sculptural padding and coverings in fabrics such as mohair, giving rise to forms that seem to have a personality of their own. In Soft Boulder, on the other hand, the seat takes on the appearance of a boulder covered in synthetic fur, in a play of contrasts between apparent solidity and softness.
This transformation does not completely erase the furniture’s past: it lets it show through, creating a dialogue between what the object was and what it has become. It is precisely this coexistence of memory and metamorphosis that makes the designer’s work interesting beyond its visual impact. In Kingsnorth’s language, materials are not mere decorative finishes: they help change the way we perceive an object. Velvet can recall an organic surface, synthetic fur can suggest an animal body, while foam alters volumes and challenges the rigidity traditionally associated with the structure of a chair. In Squishy Thonet II, two Thonet chairs are joined and enveloped in a biomorphic padding covered in acid-green velvet; in Holey Foam Hi!breed Chair, a mass of silk-covered foam is pierced by large metal eyelets.
The result oscillates between the familiar and the unusual, between comfort and strangeness. Charlotte Kingsnorth’s chairs don’t necessarily try to disappear into their surroundings or conform to an ideal of minimal elegance. On the contrary, they demand space and attention, bringing something unpredictable into interior design.
Their appeal also lies here, in reminding us that a piece of furniture can be functional without giving up on sparking curiosity, and that a form made to welcome the body can itself become something akin to a body. An everyday object thus turns into a presence to engage with, even before deciding whether to sit down.
