Following its fresh launch collection from Metrica and its outdoor collection by Tom Fereday, SP01 has unveiled a new collection of armchairs, occasional tables and mirrors created in collaboration with London-based New Zealand designer Tim Rundle. As with the launch collection, the ten new pieces are all manufactured in Italy. 

The catalyst for the collection and its key design device was ‘the frame’. In each piece, a frame – often of tubular steel – expresses the form by encircling, tracing or cradling while generating visual lightness. Other materials in the palette include fluted glass, brass, pewter and soft, rich upholstery.

The echo of other eras is unmistakable. “Taking cues from Art Deco and Modernism, two of the most evident architectural styles in SP01’s home city, Sydney, the new collection subtly references these design eras while interpreting them as something altogether new,” says Matt Lorrain, SP01’s Head of Design and Product Development.

The practice of interpretation, of course, can seem second nature to a designer from a part of the world that’s far from the established design centres. Says Rundle, “As a New Zealander working in London for an Australian brand that’s made in Italy, I am free from the burden of a long design history that many European designers would be working under the shadow of. We can frame our work with a very international perspective, in a similar way to antipodean cuisine that borrows the best from around the world and develops its own unique take on it.”

The new pieces include the armchairs Shu-Ying and Caristo. The former has a petite scale and compact curves, while the latter is a reinterpretation of the wingback chair and is offered with a high or low headrest. Both can be upholstered in over 70 fabrics from leather to velvet.

Explains Rundle of the approach taken to the upholstery: “With upholstered pieces, the outside is harder and the human part is softer – the part that touches architecture should relate to that and the parts that touch people should relate to them. We tried to really accentuate that by pushing the softness of the inner surfaces with looser upholstery to create a softer finish counterbalanced by a harder, crisper outside surface.” 

Also in the collection are the Michelle mirrors and the Mohana tables. The family of mirrors has tubular frames in brass, pewter or blackened steel with small marble trays. The tables combine marble and glass supported by fine-gauge steel, with two levels characterised by contrasting materials.

SP01 is available from Space Furniture.