A new furniture range celebrates the nuttier side of the 1990s
PEOPLE TO WATCH, PLACES TO BE, PRODUCTS TO BUY
You’ve heard about the 1990s revival. You’ve read about it in magazines like Esquire. All the cool stuff from culture that’s back in fashion from 30 years ago. Drum and bass, shameless hedonism, combat trousers. Until now though, it’s hard to recall anyone making a case for the return of Mr Blobby.
“It was classically disgusting design,” says Alex Holloway, half of London interior-design consultancy Holloway Li. “Because it was meant to be deliberate. Yellow and pink were the two most clash-y, horrible colours you can put together.”
This is the same bulbous mascot of Crinkley Bottom-based Saturday night light-entertainment show Noel’s House Party who was described in The New York Times as “a metaphor for a nation gone soft in the head”, by Michael Parkinson as “far from amusing” and by Bob Mortimer as a “pink, spotty, rubber twat”.
“The Big Breakfast, Chris Evans… there was so much wild stuff going on TV then; so much optimism,” says Holloway. “It looked like the best industry in the world to work in. We wanted to try and capture some of that playfulness.”
The result is the T4 series, a curvy chair that also draws influence from the moulded composites used in the motor industry, specifically the inside of London buses. The chairs can be grouped together to make longer sofas or lounge chairs and come in Melon Yellow, Blush Pink, Overground Orange or Cream Soda. They have been produced in collaboration with Uma, a furniture brand with experience in thermoplastics and water slides.
“The interior landscape of the last 15 years has been defined by Soho House shabby chic, post-industrial and heritage revival,” says Holloway. “It was a cheap way of doing hospitality well. But that country-house aesthetic doesn’t resonate with Gen Z. It’s too precious. Looking at Instagram now, it’s all about c
