Designers Alexis Tourron and Stefano Panterotto are out to subvert outmoded furniture archetypes — hence their self-initiated 2019 concept for a five-piece flat-pack furniture collection that weighs less than 20 kilograms. Or their speculative couch that fits in an envelope, developed for Ikea’s now-defunct SPACE10 research and design lab. “We’re always thinking about the future of living — and working — and how the way we live is evolving,” the duo says. “We explore themes of global mobility, of relocating often, and how current furniture is not ready for that.”

Panterotto (from Italy) and Tourron (from France) founded their studio, Panter&Tourron, in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2016 after meeting at and graduating from ECAL. Positioning themselves at the juncture of design, technology and society, the creatives consider future impact and relevancy with everything they do. “The way we build and sell furniture needs to change,” says Tourron. “There should be no glue, no staples, and it must be repairable and demountable.” The two also believe that as living spaces shrink and modern-day entertaining sheds the formality of the past, contemporary furniture should keep up with the times.

Enter Anagram, Panter&Tourron’s ultra-modular sofa for Vitra that debuted in Copenhagen in June. The system is built around an ingenious method of adaptability: A “click and play” mechanism allows upholstered back and side panels (made from recyclable biofibre boards) to be added, removed or resituated anywhere along the base “island” (a recycled aluminum bed with nylon webbing). The height of flexibility, Anagram can transform from a traditional front-facing sofa to a sectional to a corner unit to a double-ended lounger and more.

Comprising only 10 modules — three sizes of platforms, two panels and three back cushions plus two attachable tables — Anagram is concise and, of course, comfortable. Seat cushions are filled with a minimal amount of polyurethane foam, which is augmented by 100 per cent recycled PET fibres from post-industrial waste. And there’s room to grow there, too. “In the future, if something more sustainable than PU foam is introduced, the internal cushions can easily be replaced,” says Tourron.