Borghese Sofa

When Richard Schultz designed his now-classic Petal table (PDF) for Florence Knoll in 1960, he went the extra mile, creating piece that was not only beautiful from the top but from the bottom: Schultz modeled the structure supporting the petals on Queen’s Anne lace, a common weed on his farmhouse property.

More than 50 years later, Noé Duchaufour Lawrance has pulled a similar trick. On his new Borghese sofa, a network of branches rises up the back to hold up three cushions in place. And like Schultz, the Frenchman found inspiration in nature, specifically the pine trees of Villa Borghese, the largest public park in Rome. The couch is an abstract landscape that can only be appreciated with a 360-degree view, making it one of those pieces of furniture that shouldn’t be arrested—i.e., shoved against a wall. In fact, doing so might constitute a crime.

Borghese is part of the inaugural collection of La Chance, a brand-new French company headed by an architect and a financier with fine design sensibilities and a combined age of 55. It’s available in two color combinations: a carbon-black frame with charcoal upholstery, or a white frame with cushions in various shades of green.