The Balenciaga collaboration with Harry Nureyev reimagines the sofa as an example of sustainable design.
Crosby Studios founder Harry Nureyev has teamed up with French fashion brand Balenciaga to create the world's first luxury fashion house vinyl sofa out of discarded clothes. A piece of furniture made by "recycling used or recycled clothing into a functional work of art" was unveiled at Design Miami 2019.
“The Balenciaga collaboration with Nureyev reimagines the sofa – the center of many homes – as an example of sustainable design, giving generations of clothing and other materials new life,” the fashion house commented.
Thus, Balenciaga emphasizes the brand's responsibility for the damage caused by the fashion industry to the environment. As conceived by the designers, a sofa filled with unnecessary clothes should serve as an example for other market participants on the topic of reusing various products.
The sofa itself is a classic silhouette filled with haute couture apparel pressed into a clear vinyl cover. The model received a specially selected combination of textures and fabrics, and the designs were used from past seasons and last year's Balenciag collectionsa.
Part of the sofa is an easy chair. And to complement the row of seats, Balenciaga and Nureyev provided a retractable footrest, an armrest for more comfort and a series of decorative pillows. The stitched edges of the product, as well as the many buttons on the back, give the sofa a traditional look.