Reflex – Playing with the sofa
At Il Salone del Mobile 2011 in Milan, Artifort will be presenting its on which you can all watch television together, or turn your back on the TV and read a book. A sofa on which you can stare deeply into each other’s eyes, or stretch out next to each other. A sofa that can also change with your interior and the seasons and one that can give you a great big ‘green’ feeling. That’s the Reflex by Toine van den Heuvel. Comfort, flexibility and recyclability were central to the design process. And the result is an extremely comfortable sofa in which the frame and the seating elements remain separate, while the seats can be repositioned on the frame. This makes the Reflex extraordinarily flexible. What’s more, thanks to its ingenious construction, the sofa is 100% recyclable. Artifort’s house designer Toine van den Heuvel is responsible for the design. Flexibility – Playing with elements. The Reflex owes its flexibility to its separate seating elements and removable covers. The seating elements can be positioned, turned and repositioned on the frame any way you like but they can also be placed separately on the floor. The covers can be ordered separately so you can change them as you wish. There’s even a matching table top and a corner element. You can play with the shape and appearance of the Reflex to your heart’s content. Let’s say you opt for a three-seater frame, 3 seating elements (2 with a low back and 1 with a high back) and a pouffe. You can then position these so you’re facing each other with the pouffe in the middle, or simply sit next to each other with the pouffe on the floor. You might decide to fit an armrest (very easy to do with 2 screws and an Allen key) or you might not. And if you want something different tomorrow, you just change the order of the elements and change a cover, and voilà, a new Reflex. Incredibly flexible!
Flexibility – Playing with elements
The Reflex owes its flexibility to its separate seating elements and removable covers. The seating elements can be positioned, turned and repositioned on the frame any way you like but they can also be placed separately on the floor. The covers can be ordered separately so you can change them as you wish. There’s a corner element and there are several table options. There is a matching table top, a table with drawer, a low side table and a slidable occasional table, the Traveller. You can play with the shape and appearance of the Reflex to your heart’s content. Let’s say you opt for a three-seater frame, 3 seating elements (2 with a low back and 1 with a high back) and a pouffe. You can then position these so you’re facing each other with the pouffe in the middle, or simply sit next to each other with the pouffe on the floor. You might decide to fit an arm- rest (very easy to do with 2 screws and an Allen key) or you might not. And if you want something different tomor- row, you just change the order of the elements and change a cover, and voilà, a new Reflex. Incredibly flexible!
Comfort – Just lie back and relax
First and foremost, a sofa should be nice to sit on – and the Reflex is just that. In fact, the way different people interpret comfort was already taken into consideration when the Reflex was designed. Which is why there’s a choice of a high or low frame, providing a sitting height of 42 or 46 cm. It’s also why you can opt for a seating element with a low back and a lounging seating position or a high back with a more active position. There’s something for everyone. The armrests are covered in extra-thick foam so they’re soft and yet firm to lean on. And then there’s the unique combination of the steel coiled springs and the moulded foam, especially produced for this sofa, which make the seating elements so perfectly comfortable. This combined with the various possibilities of the seating elements puts the Reflex at the top of the comfort rankings. Construction – 100% recyclable A sofa that could be fully recycled was the basic principle behind the design of the Reflex. The Reflex is a classic example of ingenious connections, with the use of glue reduced to a bare minimum. All the materials used can be recycled and can also be separated using ordinary tools. The result is a sofa that is not only 100% flexible but also 100% recyclable!
Reflex Embrace
Toine van den Heuvel’s Reflex is now also available with Embrace. And Embrace gives this sofa an entirely new ap- pearance and function. It’s almost like having a place to yourself. A bit like building a soft wall around you. Embrac- ing yourself. And that means more privacy and fewer distractions. Put two Embraces opposite each other and you create a sort of room. You could call it an extra bonus. So two of you can discuss things in comfort, without completely losing contact with what’s going on around you. And what’s more, this sort of room keeps the space open and uncluttered.
It’s also why the Reflex Embrace fits the New Way of Working so well. After all, that’s all about choosing the right place to do the work that you’re busy with at that moment. And why shouldn’t that be a comfortable sofa? A sofa is a great place for brainstorming and discussions. Or running through a complicated document, taking that impor- tant telephone call or preparing a presentation. That’s when you don’t want to be distracted by what’s going on around you. And the Embrace provides the perfect answer. The ‘wall’ closes you off visually, while the upholstery muffles and softens noise. All of which makes the Reflex Embrace an extremely comfortable place to concentrate or collaborate. he Reflex has a metal frame with die-cast corners into which the legs and the optional armrests are fitted. The seating elements or table are then simply laid on top. These seating elements are made of a wooden frame, steel coiled springs and moulded foam. Over this goes the fabric or leather cover, which is fixed to the base-plate with Velcro. Dacron is stitched to the inside of the covers so that the corners are beautifully rounded and the cover glides smoothly over the foam. There is also a hand grip hidden in the seat to make moving the elements easy.
Construction – 100% recyclable
A sofa that could be fully recycled was the basic principle behind the design of the Reflex. The Reflex is a classic example of ingenious connections, with the use of glue reduced to a bare minimum. All the materials used can be recycled and can also be separated using ordinary tools. The result is a sofa that is not only 100% flexible but also 100% recyclable! The Reflex has a metal frame with die-cast corners into which the legs and the optional armrests are fitted. The seating elements or table are then simply laid on top. These seating elements are made of a wooden frame, steel coiled springs and moulded foam. Over this goes the fabric or leather cover, which is fixed to the base-plate with Velcro. Dacron is stitched to the inside of the covers so that the corners are beautifully rounded and the cover glides smoothly over the foam. There is also a hand grip hidden in the seat to make moving the elements easy. The frame can be powder coated, upholstered or veneered. The seating elemnts can also be deep-buttoned.
Designer: Toine van den Heuvel
Netherlands
