Glass by Clive Lonstein

When conceptualizing his first-ever furniture collection, Clive Lonstein was determined to use only one material — no mixing of wood with metal or textiles. For the architect and designer known for rich, minimalist interiors, a mono-material palette made sense. His medium of choice? Cast glass. “It’s very simplistic and not simplistic at all,” he says of the nuanced nature of his selection. When it came to the furniture itself, Lonstein decided that tables were the “most logical format” to fully explore the material, and developed the eight-piece Glass by Clive Lonstein collection — a collaboration with contemporary art and design gallery StudioTwentySeven — to include a dining table, coffee tables, consoles and side tables.

Expressing a strong geometric precision, the pieces feature offset compositions, diagonals, zigzags and irregular shapes, with indents, jogs and deconstructed areas introduced through a complex fabrication process. The results are striking, and they play with light in such a way that dappled shadows engage with the surroundings. A range of moody jewel tones enhances the undeniable presence of the pieces.

Agra Forma by Tom Fereday

An experimental collaboration between global rug brand Armadillo and industrial designer Tom Fereday, the Agra Forma capsule collection is an honest celebration of craftsmanship. Blending textile-making with fine woodworking, the seven sculptural furniture pieces employ a shared minimalist language that emphasizes the “raw beauty of sustainable materials” — the abrash-dyed wool of the Agra rug with dramatically grained red oak.

Fereday was interested in investigating the potential for Armadillo’s durable natural wool rugs to stand in for conventional foam and upholstery, and as a warm counterpoint to the ruggedness of wood. Articulating a “quiet architecture,” his pieces (which include a chair, armchair, two stools, two ottomans and a desk) invite a tactile experience, creating a sensory dialogue between the hardness of the wood and the softness of the wool fibres.

The series features two colours of the deep cut pile Agra rug, reddish-orange Ginger and deep silvery-grey Thistle, which are applied to follow the gentle curves of the furniture. A true study in contrasts — warm and cool, hard and soft — Agra Forma is refined, poetic and simply captivating.