BD Barcelona

Between intimate ritual and social construction, design creates fetishes and reveals our singular relationship with materiality, transforming certain artefacts into precious objects. Whether works of art, garments or the everyday objects that accompany us through life, we tend to accumulate, preserve and collect them through attachment.

In an increasingly dense and accelerated world, the things we own often become extensions of ourselves—reflections and markers of identity. At the boundary between the domestic and the intimate, some pieces of furniture embrace an overt sensual charge. Through evocative materials—latex, leather, smooth surfaces—and forms that are at times organic and suggestive, they invite an almost carnal relationship with the object. Suspended between attraction and ambiguity, these pieces flirt with the imaginary of the fetish, diverting the conventional codes of furniture design to become objects of projection.

Creating furniture that often stems from repressed fantasies, revealing an intense and excessive attachment to materials and objects: BD Barcelona. The publisher collaborates with a number of designers on pieces inspired by the human form, our consumption habits and social constructs—from Ettore Gaudí to designer Willo Perron and Our Legacy: behind the Sauvage Sofa lies a deliberately simple construction and a deconstructed take on the traditional sofa—the ultimate playground for children and adults alike. An overview of this iconic, evocative furniture, imbued with poetry.

INFORMAL LOUNGE CHAIR
Much like the surrealist creations of Salvador Dalí, contemporary furniture increasingly adopts anthropomorphic and expressive forms, embracing both masculinity and femininity. Furniture becomes almost a character in its own right. Designed by the Belgian duo Muller Van Severen, first produced by Kassl Editions and later reinterpreted by BD Barcelona, Pillow introduces a new BDSM-inflected aesthetic. This modular seating system, with its bold silhouette and playful personality, extends the language of the celebrated Pillow Bag. Faithful to its original 2021 version, the piece is now upholstered in black lacquered cotton—the signature material of KASSL Editions originally developed from production offcuts and serving as the project’s narrative core.

Both tactile and durable, the material embodies the brand’s commitment to democratic design, radical quality and a timeless aesthetic that transcends styles, genders and generations. For designers Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen, the material gives the object an almost instinctive vitality. “The Pillow Sofa stands as a symbol of the encounter between fashion and design”, explains Ilse Cornelissens, co-founder of KASSL Editions. Sculptural and dynamic, the piece encourages personal expression and a freer, more playful way of living. Endowed with a strong visual presence— almost charismatic—it celebrates both material and function. The project also illustrates how contemporary objects, by borrowing from the codes of fashion, become increasingly desirable, tactile and identity-forming. •

photos: Shiva Vase by Ettore Sottsass, BD Barcelona • © courtesy of BD Barcelona • Sausage Sofa by Willo Perron, BD Barcelona • © All rights reserved • The Pillow Sofa x KASSL Editions featured at the KASSL x TRETORN pop-up, Carmen Amsterdam, Netherlands • © All rights reserved • Kassl Pillow Sofa Laquer • Sausage Sofa by Willo Perron, BD Barcelona • © All rights reserved