Designers on Sofas

The first title in a new series from tastemakers Monocle, this is a fun, informative collection of portraits and biographical interviews with 50 architects from all over the world sitting on their sofas revealing their style, wit, personality – and sofa choices.

Bringing architects and their sofas together in a lighthearted way, this book aims to find out what makes some of the world’s most famous architects and designers tick. Each of its fifty entries features a portrait of an architect on their sofa, taken at their own home or workplace, sometimes with their family, their pets or with other possessions, each photograph capturing essential details about the architect’s life, work and style. An in-depth interview accompanies each entry, so that readers find out not just about their sofa (for example whether or not they designed it, and if not why they chose it, and who it was designed by) but also about their life, their work, what they’re passionate about and what they struggle with.

Taken together, this collection of photographic portraits and interviews provides unique insights into the minds and lives of some of the greatest architects of our time. In addition, a special foldout presents 100 architect-designed sofas from the last century with designs by Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto, Charlotte Perriand, Verner Panton, Cini Boeri, Zaha Hadid, John Pawson, and many more.