Architecture is similar in the way it defines geometry, then fills it with a curated array of materials, textures, colours and furnishings. Place-making is the answer to questions of whom and how, while the interior pieces embody an answer to “why”.
This becomes explicit when the design of furniture, lighting and accessories is rich in personality, like the objects that emerge from British design house, Established & Sons.
Known for subverting bland paradigms with forms that bring heritage artisan traditions into the contemporary post-everything age, this treasure trove of inspiration is now available to Australian designers and specifiers through a new partnership with KFive.
For KFive’s CEO Erna Walsh, the lure of Established & Sons began at Salone de Mobile in Milan back in 2005. This was the first time the design house had revealed its genius to the international design community at the showcase event, and Walsh was immediately drawn to the bold, unique and dynamic nature of their work.
Established & Sons is inventive, intuitive, flamboyant and fiercely independent in its approach, while also being impeccably respectful of materials and their provenance. Through the use of time-honoured artisan skills including glass-blowing, hand-built cabinetry, weaving and etching, the quality of the design and the making is centred.
This aligns perfectly with KFive’s commitment to social and environmental sustainability, which incorporates a focus on the lifecycle of objects, and respect for resources including both physical resources and artistic ones.
Even after more than two decades, Established & Sons continues to expand the repertoire of interiors and architecture with objects that range from playful to profound.
Walsh encountered them again at Milan 2026, where Established & Sons were showcasing a striking evolution of bending timber veneer, collaborations on timber flooring tiles, and spectacular light art pieces.
Under the current CEO, Casper Vissers (ex-Moooi), the British base remains the heart of the punk rockstar ethos, while collaborations and operational partnerships have extended into Europe and China.
Now, KFive is welcoming this exciting design character into the Australian architecture and interiors world.
Walsh highlights some specific collections that are likely to resonate strongly with the local scene.
Nathan Martell, the genius behind the Layup Lounge Chair, which was showcased dramatically in Milan represents the fusion of unfettered imagination, thoughtful materiality and advanced making approaches with seamless, bent timber veneer lounge chairs.
There is something almost Escher-like in the purity and flow of the form, which defies conventional carpentry with a geometry that is curved, angled and comfortable, with seamlessly joined elements.
Filigrana by Sebastian Wrong, Co-Founder of Established & Sons, reinterprets the legendary craft of Venetian glassblowing in a contemporary lighting format. The compelling orbs and voluminous, billowing forms of the Filigrana Light are a fusion of craftsmanship, colour and materiality.
Using the centuries-old technique of mouth-blown glass, with coloured strips laid on the molten surface, and then acid-etching applied to create a soft, diffused light, every Filigrana Light is unique.
Also conceived by Sebastian Wrong, the Lucio chair is the epitome of lightness in both form and experience. A distinctive graphic silhouette created out of tubular steel-framed sections with a foam-and-fabric body, the apparent simplicity conceals deep thought into the way the chairs will support and cradle the human body. The Lucio lounge chair has reclined and relaxed seating positions, with a flowing form and a laminated ribbed construction that melds itself to the shape of the seated person to offer superlative comfort.
Lucio in the high-backed form has an optional integrated, pivoting side-table for ad-hoc working, hobbies or keeping a beverage and book close at hand. This is the designer’s talent – to imagine the scenario and craft the means for someone to enter that narrative, experience that moment.
Gelato by Carlo Nason is like delight given form, with the evocative, playful nostalgia of the dessert in a wireless, energy-efficient and portable lamp. Mouth-blown Venetian glass for the base supports an orb of acid-etched opaline glass that houses a rechargeable LED luminaire and delivers a diffused and glowing sphere of light.
The replaceable custom-made LED bulb with an integrated battery is operated by a haptic three-step dimming switch. The bulb magnetically charges directly on the stand using a USB-C magnetic charging cable that has become universal to Established & Sons’ collection of portable luminaires.
This fusion of the traditions of glassblowing to create captivating light, fused with the leading-edge technology and sustainability of rechargeable and adaptable forms demonstrates the gift Established & Sons has for advancing the ethos, the aesthetic and the actualisation of interior design.
For KFive, being able to bring this vibrant, multi-faceted offering to clients and collaborators in Australia is a demonstration of the openness of the local architecture, interiors and design community.
The dynamic, distinctive and characterful furniture and lighting provides an opportunity to make objects and artistry a hero of the interior narrative across residential, hospitality and commercial projects.
Having showrooms in Melbourne and Sydney also allows the local design and specifier community to explore the collection and experience the same charismatic appeal that drew Erna Walsh to Established & Sons back at their first Milan showing.
KFive
kfive.com.au
