Q&A with Frans Schrofer

You won the Red Dot Award this year for the Caruzzo armchair design for Leolux; what does winning the Red Dot Award mean to you? The Red Dot is the seal of approval for international design. It’s a real honour. We had a flag printed with our winning design and the Red Dot logo and hoisted it up on the flag pole in front of our studio. The entire neighborhood came by to congratulate us.

What were the top three elements that went into the design for the Monaco modular sofa for BoConcept? The Dutch word for design is “vormgeving”, which means “giving form”. The Monaco is all about finding the right balance between curves and angles; comfort and beauty. 

The Monaco’s armrest was inspired by a stop sign – what were some other sources of inspiration? I wanted to get away from the boxy structures typically found in sofas. It’s the biggest piece of furniture in the living room and I thought it needed more lift, lightness and playfulness. 

What sorts of people do you see wanting to own one, and what kind of lifestyles would you think they possess? The Monaco sofa has an active seating, so no “couch potatoes” here. It’s visually light, playful, and a bit unconventional, so I would imagine this design would attract a multi-faceted personality. Someone who appreciates details, has a carpe diem kind of attitude and an active lifestyle. 

Will you be working on any other projects with BoConcept in future? BoConcept is now finalizing my relax chair design with a push-back mechanism, which should be in the stores in a few months. The shape is very organic and the lines form a continuous fluid movement connecting the headrest to the base. So far, the prototype looks beautiful and I can’t wait to see the final product. 

Note: We would like to make a clarification about the print version of this article, which was published in our December 2015 issue. In it, we stated that Schrofer won the Red Dot Award for his Monaco sofa design, when in fact it was for the Caruzzo armchair design. 

Image: The Monaco sofa for BoConcept