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Designer Interview
Adam Goodrum on the eye-catching lounge chair Big Talk for Blå Station
We speak to the Sydney-based industrial designer on the Victorian-era-inspired snake-like piece that opens up for conversations in a wide variety of environments.
By JOHAN MAGNUSSON
3 Mar 2021

The first prototype was first shown at Febrik and Kvadrat’s exhibition Knit project! during 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen last fall. At the event, Goodrum came in contact with Swedish furniture company Blå Station — and a rapid process was initiated.

— After the event, we had discussions about the transition from prototype to production, he tells. A lot went on behind the scenes at Blå Station to realize both the short timeframe and the production mechanics including the tooling of foam moulds which showed great commitment and applied manufacturing skill.

The Australian works with local and international brands, such as Capellini, Alessi, NAU, and Tait, and his works are collected by museums, including Art Gallery Of Western Australia, Bagatti Valsecchi Museum in Milan, and the London Design Museum. 

Big Talk, he tells, is inspired by textile swatches in a colour book format; a fanning concentration of colour that never fails to dazzle.

— The colour book upholstery forms the skin of a modular tête-à-tête sofa or Victorian-era ”love seat” collection where two or more seats are joined together in an undulating arrangement. This allows two people to have a quiet conversation — in keeping with Victorian modesty — side-by-side while viewing the back of the other person’s seat and the spectrum of graduated coloured bands that snakes in repetition along with the backrests.

The original fabrics for the Kvadrat Knit! project was taken from Febrik’s Gentle2 collection. 

— I selected these for their graduating tonality and saturation of colour. The recent fabric selection for the product launch was chosen by Blå Station with the idea of the backrest forming a continuing undulating palette as with the prototype for Knit! project.

Blå Station mainly works with contract design for public interiors, but also private homes. Where do you expect to see Big Talk?

— It can exist individually as chairs or as a connected duo in a residential setting and be utilized a multi-seat length in a public setting. This characteristic brings broad market application and the capacity to look quite different depending on setting, placement, and the number of armchairs used. However, its undulating design is most dramatic in a continuous length which would be great in hotel lobbies and larger room settings. I can see it in multicolour but also covered in monocoloured boucle, says Goodrum.