Robin Day 1915-2010

Although everyone at naughtone is sad that one of our true design heroes Robin Day has died, we think that Robin epitomises someone who has squeezed every last bit of fun and accomplishment out of his long life! Some of our design team have had the pleasure of working with Robin within the last 10 years and although at this point he was in his late 80's, Robin was still as passionate and meticulous as when he was self confessed 'obsessed' with seating at the start of his career. We will miss Robin who is undoubtedly one of Britain's most successful ever designers, but we're happy that his legacy and products (one of which I'm sitting on now) will live on.

Read the guardian's recent obituary for Robin Day.

naughtone gets a summer healthcheck

Summer is upon us and for many of us it is the season for getting into shape and personal wellbeing. Until recently, health centres have been associated with sterile and soulless places. But naughtone have enjoyed working alongside some of the UK’s most forward thinking healthcare developers who understand the benefits of good design and the impact that humanising spaces can have on the healing process.

At Redcar primary trust naughtone worked closely with the designers to provide a well designed, comfortable yet flexible interior space. Hush was chosen not only for its unique design aesthetic but its encompassing sides offer all round support and comfort for its users.

The space is complimented by the pollen stool range which can be arranged into numerous configurations depending on the requirement. The pieces were finely upholstered in Kvadrat scuba which has the waterproof and hygiene credentials of faux leather with the quality of a top grade fabric.

naughtone live at the O2

naughtone worked closely with JHP who were appointed by O2 to design a new store concept for the telecoms company. The naughtone Portion sofa was specified for the ‘lounge areas’ to create an environment that seamlessly links the worlds of the contemporary home and future technology; without alienating the everyday customer.
The final retail concept has helped O2 distinguish itself from its competitors by providing a comfortable, stylish setting which has helped to demystify the complex technology that it provides. The concept has been met with a great response and is now undergoing its 2nd phase of national deployment, soon to be heading to a high street near you!

naughtone performs at the Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall has opened the doors to a new venue, the transformed Elgar Room.

The multi-purpose venue required an interior refurb to match the first-class standards of the building’s more renowned Hall spaces. By day the venue serves as a chic and contemporary restaurant. And by night as an alternative music venue for any occasion.

The unique brief required careful consideration for furniture pieces that offer high quality British style yet are compact and easy to remove when required. naughtone’s Gloria chair was handpicked due to its elegant frame and bold, colourful upholstery options. The final result is a family of furniture pieces that provide striking splashes of colour and sophistication to contrast with the Hall’s neutral décor.

“The stylish and contemporary design of the Gloria chair is a perfect compliment to the Elgar Room, with the ability to stack providing the flexibility required for the various event layouts,”

Jen Mills, Royal Albert Hall Building Projects Manager

The chairs now sit beneath artworks of previous great artists who have performed at the Hall, including John Lennon, James Brown, Johnny Cash, Luciano Pavarotti, Ray Charles, Jimi Hendrix, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. Special attention was paid to the fabric colours to accentuate the impact of the artworks and increase the overall grandeur of the space which we are proud to support.

FX Award for Best Public Sector

naughtone would like to congratulate Hampshire County Council for winning the FX Public Sector award. The winning project: Wellstead Primary School features naughtone’s very own trace table collection and radius modular sofa range. The project is situated on the site of an old farm in the heart of a housing development and provides 210 places for primary aged children. Recently praised as a true collaboration and a real understanding of a school through the eyes of a child. Well done!

Bold, New Hotel Interior

Recently naughtone worked in conjunction with architectural interiors specialists Occa design to create a bold new interior for the UK’s newest Express By Holiday Inn.
The Portion sofa was specified due to its distinctive curved back and luxurious button seat detail. Constrained to a predominately monotone pallet, Occa introduced striking acid tone highlights to complement the building’s minimalist architecture.
Fabrics were carefully chosen to accentuate the colour and texture to provide a dramatic atmosphere that is not often found in branded hotels.
The result is a fresh and funky scheme, with stunning interiors that are bold and fresh in design. The project is an excellent example of how versatile the Portion sofa really can be. With subtle dark colours the portion’s shape can add personality to any formal area. For more relaxed areas, bright colours and button detailing can be introduced to create a unique, playful piece which invites you to sit and enjoy its unique, modern British styling.
naughtone works with special customers with discerning taste. This is one reason for us seeing so many fantastic fabric specifications for our upholstered products. The pictured result is what appears to be meticulous bespoke upholstery, but the reality is that this is a standard product from naughtone and it only takes a little imagination to create your personal gem.

UK’s leading low carbon development

naughtone, has teamed up with the UK’s leading low carbon residential development, Greenhouse in Leeds, to design the ultimate green living experience. Greenhouse, which was recently named as the country’s ‘Green Residential Development of the Year’ at the annual Estates Gazette Green awards, is breaking the boundaries of design and technology to create an environment of sustainable behaviour for its residents. Every element of design and build at Greenhouse has been undertaken to maximise the development’s sustainable potential including furniture packages and kit-out of the newly unveiled show apartments.“We believe that no compromise on design ever has to be made in order to minimize environmental impact. All of our products for Greenhouse have been designed and manufactured within 20 miles of the development. Our Yorkshire manufacturing supports the local economy and reduces manufacturing miles to an absolute minimum. Key materials in the furniture collection include solid hardwood frames which provide high quality construction and are supplied from FSC certified forests. The fabric upholstery is 100% wool, supplied within 10 minutes of the factory and is fully renewable and compostable. The majority of the furniture pack uses components which meet ISO 14001. This is a British standard for identifying and controlling the environmental impact of a company’s activities, products and services.”
When the scheme is completed, the combined unique green technologies means that it will use less energy than it creates. Director of Citu, Chris Thompson, said; “”We have addressed sustainability at every step along the way and the furniture packs are no exception. Naughtone has a superb reputation for their groundbreaking design and commitment to the green agenda and we are delighted to showcase their work at our scheme.”

naughtone raises the bar

The Parlour is a 300-cover bar/restaurant situated within one of London’s largest landmarks, One Canary Wharf. Naughtone worked closely with the designers to utilise a rustic yet modern style. The Parlour consists of a main restaurant complete with long party tables, a cocktail lounge, mezzanine area for private events and 68-cover alfresco area leading onto Canada Square Park.

White Ped tables were carefully chosen for their simple, understated form. This is complimented throughout by the elegant wire framed Reg chair range. Different citrus colours were used to add vibrancy to the interiors and cleverly separate the interior/exterior spaces.The result is stunning, unique interior which performs well as a flagship for the rapidly growing bar franchise.

Executive Reception Area designed to minimise environmental impact.

naughtone worked with a local designer to create a classic executive reception area for their £10 million redevelopment of Toronto Square. The brief demanded a sophisticated space for the building’s main reception gateway by using distinguished and refined furniture pieces.
Toronto square has excellent sustainability credentials which naughtone are proud to support. The building recently received a top rating for its environmental performance. Becoming the first extensive redevelopment/refurbishment project it the city to achieve an ‘excellent’ REEAM rating.
naughtone continues to reduce the environmental impact of our products. Our frames can be supplied with FSC certified hardwoods and carbon neutral fabrics. Our manufacturing efficiencies continue to develop and as with all naughtone pieces, the range is designed and manufactured locally in the UK. This ensures manufacturing miles are kept to an absolute minimum. The Cyde chair was originally designed especially for the BBC who fell in love with the shape of naughtone's portion range but preferred a more formal upright seating position. The resulting Clyde has been a successful choice for unique executive areas ever since.
Clyde compact was used due to its defined and distinctive profile; which is then complimented by the luxurious and comfortable buttoned seat. In this instance Black JMT Leather was used to contrast with the white interior and coffee tables to great effect.
the naughtone team share a passion and expertise for furniture and architectural interiors. It is this enthusiasm that helps us to offer the best possible service to all our friends and clients. If you think we could help with a current project then feel free to ring our helpful team on +44(0)113 242 7403.

naughtone at London Design week - Hush lounge chair Launch

The newest addition to the naughtone collection was met with a great response at this year's 100% design. Here are the first studio shots following the Hush's September launch.

Visit the naughtone homepage for more images and info. http://www.naughtone.com/

This year's Icon Design Trail Cafe was produced using unique British Furniture supplied by naughtone. This allowed visitors to appreciate the collection in a much more relaxed setting whilst planning their next stop on London's exciting design trail.

Hussssshhh.....it's a sneak peak - Hush chair launch at 100% design 2009

On Thursday the 24th September at 4pm naughtone’s newest product, the Hush chair (pictured below) will be unveiled at 100% design.

As you settle down into the Hush its flared sides offer a sanctuary from the everyday hubbub. Allowing you to finally make that important call or sit down and finalise those plans with a colleague. All the while the Hush’s wings provide gentle comfort and security to communicate or relax in confidence. View the chair at www.naughtone.com

The piece is designed by Kieron Bakewell, and features naughtone’s distinctive, award winning style and high quality finish. Hush is constructed with a moulded plywood frame and finely upholstered over CMHR foams. Available with splayed solid hardwood legs in a variety of finishes or an elegant steel sled base.

naughtone will be sponsoring this years Icon café where you will find us at stand L80. Our finest pieces will be on show including the recently launched Pollen stool range by David Fox. You are invited to come and visit us and experience the new pieces including the Hush chair for yourself. Feel free to pop by, or if you would prefer, book a showing with one of our team by simply contacting info@naughtone.com or 0113 242 7403

Toronto Square

naughtone worked on this Leeds based project with a local designer to create a classic executive reception area. The Clyde was originally designed especially for the BBC who loved the shape of naughtone's portion range but preferred a more formal upright seating position. The resulting Clyde has been a successful choice for unique executive areas ever since.

Clyde compact was used due to its defined and distinctive profile; which is then complimented by the luxurious and comfortable buttoned seat. In this instance Black JMT Leather was used to contrast with the white interior and coffee tables to great effect.

the naughtone team share a passion and expertise for furniture and architectural interiors. It is this enthusiasm that helps us to offer the best possible service to all our friends and clients. If you think we could help with a current project then feel free to ring our helpful team on +44(0)113 242 7403.

naughtone turns to face the summer sun

A recent addition to the naughtone range is a smooth running swivel mechanism, helping our Gloria lounge chair and trim armchair face the sun where ever it is.
Both swivel additions are grounded with our elegantly shaped solid aluminium pedestal base. This detail is shared across the pedestal table range allowing collections of lounge seating and tables to be used coherently.
To compliment the spinning chair trim is also now available in acompact dimension (700mmx700mm). Trim compact on theswivel base is a functional alternative to any traditional tub chair.
For more information on the Gloria and trim swivel chairs visit the relevant sections on our website www.naughtone.com or contact naughtone directly. +44(0)113 242 7403

Pollen Stool and Table

OFFICIAL 2009 LAUNCH
naughtone is proud to announce our newest product for 2009. Designed by award winning British designer David Fox, pollen is a dynamic breakout seating system that can be creatively configured to suit any corporate, public or educational space.Pollen’s obvious tessellation capabilities follow naughtone’s approach to graphic, approachable products. The hexagon is a natural shape to repeat and create patterns with. We hope it will obsess others as it has naughtone, to move the shapes around and lock them into place.

Pollen is a response to a growing need for loose furniture in open spaces that can be reconfigured, create a lively atmosphere and above all perform. The limitless configurations allow the pollen to adapt to any interior, be it a winding meander amongst high columns or a group of clusters in an open space.

Pollen is available on two styles of base and has a comfortable upholstered seat. The table pieces use the same options and tessellate perfectly with the stools. A wide variety of upholstery finishes and table surfaces are available.

Track Seating Islands

Following the success of the track sofa system, naughtone has worked closely with architects and designers to specify useful combinations of this modular system.
One of naughtone's big advantages to architects and designers is our design literate team and UK production. This allows us to tailor products to exact requirements where necessary. Recently we have worked with a London architect to create large sculptural seating islands for a vast atrium space. The seating islands are based on the track sofa's CNC quilting detail which is what originally caught the eye of the architect. Here, the track seating islands compliment the other naughtone products in the scheme perfectly.naughtone prides itself on its ability to work with architectsand designers closely; the two founding directors are designers themselves and are always focussed on getting involved with the details when naughtone products are specified. The technique of CNC quilting was first used in the UK by naughtone for upholstered furniture. It was a long process to develop the quilting technique for upholstery foam and achieve consistent results; but naughtone was determined to perfect the process for the track sofa system knowing full well that it had many more possibilities such as the recent seating islands.
Now fully developed, the system to create endless shapes of the track seating islands is available to all. Alongside developing current collections and new products naughtone is now on the look out for the next furniture challenge!

trim sofa. Now in full production

After launching the Trim sofa collection as a prototype at 100% Design 2008, naughtone are proud to announce the Trim collection is now in full production. The new Trim sofa collection is the latest naughtone product designed by Stefan Bench of In the Detail. Utilising naughtone’s quality approach to upholstery Trim has been created with a deep understanding of upholstery detailing, giving the product character, comfort and a competitive price point.

naughtone prides itself on its quality upholstery, and this attention to detail has given the Trim collection its name. By concentrating on the meeting points of the separate elements the Trim sofa is more a kin to contemporary automobile detailing. This collection also continues naughtone’s family of designs with a considered repetition of radiuses allowing the eye to flow easily over each piece.
The pure graphic form of the armchair, two seat, three seat and
bench options is complimented with two leg options and a vast selection of fabrics and leathers. The option to create a two tone effect between the backrest and seat allows colour to be introduced to the piece whilst not letting it overwhelm the design. Leg options consist of subtle, straight aluminiumlegs or brushed stainless steel sled legs allowing the piece to be fully customized.
Trim is constructed with a solid hardwood frame from a sustainably managed forest; the range is part of naughtone’s localised and environmentally aware production process. naughtone’s full environmental policy is available upon request.