Francesco Binfaré says that he has a privilege: he can have a peep into the ancient history of comfort through his «personal and contemporary peephole». Binfaré's professional adventure offers a more airy view than a "peephole". But he uses exactly that term. Sober and essential. No pedestals and fanfare. In his story he immediately goes to the core.
«For centuries and centuries, from the pharaohs’ thrones to the sofas of 18th-century buildings, seats have been the offspring of one and the same technique: a wooden frame that imposes the posture and a padding that softens its rigidity. The first real revolution comes in the 1960s, with polyurethane foam: especially in the printed version, which freed the forms. And then there is the spread of the adhesives, which allow wise and lasting assembly. At that point, the technique can give the brush-off to the constraints of the frame, and industrial designers can let their creativity roam freely».

FOR CENTURIES AND CENTURIES, FROM THE PHARAOHS' THRONES TO THE SOFAS OF 18TH-CENTURY BUILDINGS, SEATS HAVE BEEN THE OFFSPRING OF ONE AND THE SAME TECHNIQUE: A WOODEN FRAME THAT IMPOSES THE POSTURE AND A PADDING THAT SOFTENS ITS RIGIDITY

It is then that Binfaré looks through the peephole. «And I start to look at the people. I study the passengers on the tram in Milan or the tourists on the beaches in Salento, as they sunbathe down by the sea, on the rocks. I see the way their bodies adapt, how they look for the best position, their favourite one. Because a sofa is the portrait of the way we want to sit. My exploration for comfort, or into comfort, comes from there». And it is the child of its time. Binfaré absorbes what surrounds him and re-elaborates it, filtering it with his gaze. An era and a technique are entangled, and he untangles them by creating an idea of comfort. That’s why his sofas are contemporary.
For instance, the Flap comes along in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I SEE THE WAY THEIR BODIES ADAPT, HOW THEY LOOK FOR THE BEST POSITION, THEIR FAVOURITE ONE. BECAUSE A SOFA IS THE PORTARAIT OF THE WAY WE WANT TO SIT

«I dream of an oil rain in a red desert. Blackness forces its way in, swallowing everything up. Only a stretch of sand is spared. When I wake up, I think: “Freedom is what is left”. I reproduce its outline by cutting it out of a sheet, then I make a few little snips along the edges. I cut it into a lifeboat or a flying saucer. Because we are living in a time of hope, at last we have gone past there, we are close to safety, the nightmare of a nuclear war has gone. And then we are on the eve of the year Two Thousand, the space, the future: freedom, actually». Sfatto was born a few years later. The revolution we were waiting for in the new Millennium did not happen. «I feel the weariness of the Western world and the weariness brings with it the fatigue of the Western civilization. There is a sense of decay. After all, Sfatto has a bourgeois soul, but it is not conventional, because it is always in disorder. Or maybe it is a disorder».

Binfaré says that «Because of its relation with the body, the sofa will be the last item to go from our homes, when everything will be digitised». You may think of a domestic survival battle. And of a comparison between the familiar idea of the sofa, with its father-mother-child geometries intertwined in moments of rest, and the individual one of those who look at the cell phone. Then, the Standard comes: «I think of some big cushions, acting as armrests and backrests, and fit them onto a freeform set of seats. A smartness of movement, which is made possible and effortless by Edra’s technology. It is a connective and physical tissue, trying to defend itself from a virtual invasion». 

BECAUSE OF ITS RELATION WITH THE BODY, THE SOFA WILL BE THE LAST ITEM TO GO FROM OUR HOME, WHEN EVERYTHING WILL BE DIGITISED

From his peephole, Binfaré also framed a technological revolution too, the offspring of the Sixties one: the Gellyfoam® by Edra. «It is a material that can accommodate any posture, while correcting it with the care of a mother tucking the sheets in around her sleeping child. Gellyfoam® is the soul of many of my sofas, but the Grande Soffice is its pinnacle. The Grande Soffice hugs you, it shelters you from the historical time we are going through. A wearying age, and a dangerous one at that».

Binfaré says that Edra gave him the opportunity to read the present. «My sofas are portrayals of the moments that make up the ancient and universal history of comfort».

Giampaolo Grassi Parliamentary reporter for the Italian Press Agency Ansa. Before taking an interest in politics, he was in charge of legal news in Florence and fi nancial news in Milan.