Lunar sofa bed by James Irvine

In 1997, B&B Italia started the Ciovassino+ project: a selection of young authors invited to design experimental furniture but in all respects suitable for the company's production. James Irvine is invited and attends. Irvine chooses a theme he has already worked on, perhaps because it reminds him of his early, vaguely bohemian days in Milan: a simple and functional sofa bed. A sofa bed that with just a few movements ensures quick and safe passage from one function (conversation, reading, relaxation) to another (sleeping, etc.). The image is very friendly, almost Disney-esque, with linear but very rounded volumes and a small concession to the spatial imagery of the Sixties in the disc-shaped feet which recall those of the LEM, the module sent from Earth for the mission's astronauts to land on the moon Apollo 11. The structure of the sofa is functional to the movement of the seat and backrest: with a single mechanism, the first slides forward, the second folds over and a support surface is formed where two people can sleep comfortably. Precisely this iconicity, in addition to the undoubted functionality, means that the Lunar paradoxically remains in production for a few years, demonstrating that even a sophisticated public can appreciate more pop furnishing solutions. The sofa is of excellent quality, it only has two marks on the fabric caused by dust when the bed was closed.