Sketch Series: Nick Lewis for Roger Lewis

During the London Design Festival we took the opportunity to meet with designers to discuss their most recent work.  At the center of 100% Design we sat down with Nick Lewis, Design Director at Roger Lewis and the designer behind their most recent product launch, the Onyar Sofa.  Nick sketched his design whilst we talked. 

Could you introduce your new collection and tell us about you design process?

‘Of course, hello. I designed this new sofa, called the Onyar Sofa and I wanted to create a sofa with simple curved shape and a lovely soft form.  I have worked with a sub contractor to create metal under frames which provide a lovely elegance to the sofa.  I started by sketching, from the sketch phase I tried to keep in mind on our company style, trying to produce a sofa which fits with our brand.

So Onyar is low backed, contemporary and modern with a slight Scandi feel about it.  The construction is different to our normal construction of sofas, we’re used to webbing and springing, things like this but it’s just very much a ply box and then there’s profile cut foam to create the lovely soft shapes inside.’

Which part of the design process did you find the most enjoyable?

‘For me it was the actual prototyping stage, after doing the sketch we started to create the form.  I very much went straight from the sketch into full scale prototyping, luckily enough we have a factory so I can do that.  So I didn’t need to do any kind of modeling or scale modeling.  I created the scale drawings and then worked straight at prototyping and was very hands on.  It was nice to work in ply, creating the shape of one arm first, using the frame and foam to create the form, from there it was all about getting the detailing right.’

Designed for use in corporate and hospitality, hotel lobbies and breakout areas yet transferable to residential properties.  All of Roger Lewis’ range names are places of tranquility for their team. The Onyar river runs through the inspiring city of Genoa. Situated in Catalonia, it’s a vibrant and colourful city which is architecturally historical and has an artistic playful tradition. Located near the home of Salvador Dali.

Onyar is available as an armchair, two seat sofa and three seat sofa.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:  EPC Anthracite tubular steel frame.  Fabric only, Fixed.  CMHR foams.  Sustainable seasoned hardwood.  Birch, beech and multiply.  Structural joints are glued and screwed.  Elasticated webbing.

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