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What happens when a creative director best known for his work on stage productions like Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show turns his attention to furniture? You get seating with a serious sense of spectacle. Indeed, Pillo — a new sofa previewed by Knoll in Milan in April that is launching in North America this week — is much more of a statement piece than your standard-issue couch. Then again, what else would you expect from the mind of Willo Perron? Born in Montreal and based in California, the multidisciplinary designer has gone on to mastermind everything from the flying Ferrari that drove over the crowd at Drake’s Aubrey & the Three Migos Tour to St. Vincent’s Grammy Award-winning Masseducation album art.

Wearing a black shirt and white pants, designer Willo Perron leans on an oversized cream-coloured pillow propped against a column in an ivory-hued room.
A pillow is folded over one of the cushions on Knoll's Pillo sofa.

Lately, the creative force has been turning his attention to furniture design, too. Indeed, Pillo is adapted from a concept originally presented in Perron’s exhibition “No Coasters” — a 2022 show held at New York’s Matter Projects that pushed back against overly precious furniture to foreground comfort. Knoll was charmed enough to put the design into production, making it the star of the company’s display at this year’s edition of Salone del Mobile.

Wearing a black shirt and white pants, designer Willo Perron lies on the Pillo sofa by Knoll, featuring oversized pillow-like cushions.

And while the final product offers plenty of sculptural appeal, it’s a lot less conceptual than you might expect for furniture that started off in a gallery show. In all honesty, Pillo looks like a stack of oversized pillows. Even better, with ultra-deep seats, it feels like a stack of pillows — and therein lies its main appeal. In its pursuit of ultimate comfort, the design goes back to slumber party basics. Yet to Perron’s credit, it still maintains some sense of sophistication, too. Yes, it’s a pillow fort — but it’s the kind of pillow fort you might make out of ultra-high thread count pillows in a five-star hotel. (In fact, the sofa has a moulded, flexible polyurethane seat base, with flexible polyurethane parts of different densities, and can be covered in a full variety of fabrics.)

Wearing a black shirt and white pants, designer Willo Perron kicks his feat up on a single cream-coloured corner module from Knoll's Pillo sofa.

Pillo was part of a larger movement of cushy seating during this year’s edition of Milan Design Week, joined by other marshmallow-like furnishings by Faye Toogood (for Tacchini and Poltrona Frau) and Muller van Severen (for BD Barcelona). Among this pillowy pack, Knoll’s Pillo stands out as the most literal offering, lending it an extra layer of playful charm.

Designer Willo Perron sits at the end of a long row of cream-coloured Pillo sofa modules by Knoll.

In proper creative director fashion, Perron has marked the sofa’s launch by conceptualizing campaign imagery that highlights the design in use. In the true spirit of a pillow fort, the modular design’s individual components can be rearranged into myriad configurations. “It’s a choose-your-own-adventure experience,” Perron explains in the press release accompanying the sofa’s launch. With that in mind, the images depict a full variety of setups: from corner configurations to an extra-long row and even an enclosed square arrangement that creates a total relaxation zone.

Designer Willo Perron hugs one of the cream-coloured pillow-like cushions that form the Pillo sofa by Knoll.
One end of the Pillo sofa by Knoll, which resembles a stack of oversized pillows. It is shown in a cream hue in a matching cream-coloured room.

Throughout the photo series, Perron demonstrates the true merits of super-soft seating. In one shot, he collapses headfirst onto one of Pillo’s billowing cushions, while in another he gives one of the pads a tight squeeze. With the arrival of daylight savings time this weekend, it’s officially hibernation season. And just in time, Knoll and Willo Perron have launched the ultimate binge watch companion. 

Knoll’s Pillo Sofa Is a Lesson in the Art of Lounging

In a photo series celebrating the launch of his new sofa, designer Willo Perron demonstrates the right way to kick back and relax.

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