Furniture

New Stripy Furniture From Sarah Ellison, Fit For A Palazzo!

Designer Sarah Ellison captured the zeitgeist last year with her monolithic furniture collection, SOL. It felt like every house we featured had a Huggy chair nestled in the corner or a Paloma coffee table taking centre stage in the lounge. These pieces were everywhere, in a very good way!

Now, the NSW-based designer is back with a brand new collection destined for the same fanfare. Say hello to La Banda, a capsule range of decorative timber furniture that celebrates the humble stripe!

Written
by
Sasha Gattermayr

All the pieces in the La Banda collection contain its signature stripes, made using a woodworking technique called ‘banding’ wherein fine strips of timber veneer are wrapped around the existing solid structure. Photo – Dave Wheeler. Styling – Joseph Gardner.

Traditionally perpendicular lines are bevelled to soften the otherwise severe angles. Photo – Dave Wheeler. Styling – Joseph Gardner.

The standing screen in-situ with soft and squishy pieces from the SOL collection. Photo – Dave Wheeler. Styling – Joseph Gardner.

The capsule collection consists of a screen, console and side-table. Photo – Dave Wheeler. Styling – Joseph Gardner.

The console is made to look like one solid piece of timber carved and bent into place. Photo – Dave Wheeler. Styling – Joseph Gardner.

‘I knew that the stripes effect would create quite a lot of noise once placed in a space, so I decided to design secondary furniture pieces such as side-tables and consoles,’ Sarah explains. ‘This would mean they were a dynamic and sculptural accent rather than the central focus of a space.’ Photo – Dave Wheeler. Styling – Joseph Gardner.

The La Banda collection in full! Photo – Dave Wheeler. Styling – Joseph Gardner.

The crumbly walls fit the palazzo vibes! Photo – Dave Wheeler. Styling – Joseph Gardner.

Writer
Sasha Gattermayr
31st of March 2021

The solid timber forms of Sarah Ellison’s new capsule range are a contrast to the squishy, sensual silhouettes of her breakout SOL collection. Despite the difference in design, La Banda oozes the same sought after trend-of-the-moment that Sarah is so good at capturing.

Comprising a side-table, console and standing screen made of ash and walnut timber, each piece is finished in a distinctive striped motif.

‘I knew that the stripes effect would create quite a lot of noise once placed in a space, so I decided to design secondary furniture pieces such as side-tables and consoles,’ Sarah explains. ‘This would mean they were a dynamic and sculptural accent, rather than the central focus of a space.’ Additionally, hard edges and corners are  rounded off and curved across the collection, softening the strong geometry of these eye-catching pieces.

La banda translates to ‘the stripe’ in Italian, but here it also refers to the specialist woodworking method used to make the distinctive pattern that wraps every piece in the collection. Banding is a traditional timber finishing technique that sees strips of 5mm timber veneer applied to the finished furniture form and fixed in place to make the striking parallel stripes. Sarah and her team in the workshop tested different tones to work out the best contrast scheme before settling on soft caramel and toffee shades of timber.

To round out the Italian inspiration, how good is the Tuscan wheatfield-inspired campaign shoot, styled by Joseph Gardner? We love!

‘La Banda’ is available for purchase now. See more here

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