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This may be Ozwald Boateng’s first foray into furniture but, for the Savile Row star, it has been a long time coming
After nearly four decades of being shot alongside his most beloved piece of furniture – the armchair – the British- Ghanaian fashion designer has finally created his own… And then some. Crafted in collaboration with Poltrana Frau, the ‘Vanity Fair’ (pictured, £5,930) is part of ‘Culture & Craft’, a furniture and accessories collection unveiled last month at the London Design Festival.
According to Boateng OBE, even though this is his debut range, his interest in interior design goes back to the 1990s when he opened his eponymous site on Portobello Road. ‘My design studio used to get a lot of coverage in interiors magazines,’ he says via video call from a sunny family holiday in the Dominican Republic. In a way, it’s a surprise that he hasn’t released a furniture series before. ‘It was always something I’d thought about pursuing but I wanted to find the right partner to do it with,’ he explains. ‘Finding the right executor of your work is essential.’
His collaboration with Poltrona Frau, which includes seating, lifestyle accessories, textiles and wallpapers, all comes in the rich, jewel-like colour palette associated with Boateng, who was born in north London in 1968 to Ghanaian immigrants. The ‘Chester’ line – the brand’s classic, buttoned furniture range – for example, has been given a Boateng makeover and now comes in golden yellow, emerald green, regal purple and deep blue options. ‘We started by combining my design with Poltrona Frau’s original shapes,’ he recalls. Each leather seat has been embossed by hand with the designer’s ‘Tribal’ pattern, which has also graced Boateng suits worn by the likes of celebrities Will Smith, John Boyega and Jamie Foxx.
Elsewhere in the series, on many of the larger pieces, customary Kente cloth
