Jean-Marie Massaud, Ketch Sunbed, 2024

Good design, like good seamanship, is about balance — between structure and fluidity, between what is fixed and what yields. Jean-Marie Massaud’s Ketch sunbed for Poliform holds this line with quiet confidence. Inspired by the nautical world, it embodies Massaud’s belief that objects should not impose but belong, and move in rhythm with both their environment and the people who inhabit them. Massaud is known for his organic approach, his pursuit of forms that feel inevitable. He speaks of “an honest, generous path,” one that considers not just individual desire but the broader need for things that endure. “Nothing is gratuitous. Everything has a purpose. The shape has to reveal the content and it becomes a symbol that gives you information about the experience or what there is inside,” Massaud once said of his approach to form. The Ketch sunbed, part of a larger collection that includes outdoor lounge chairs and sofas, is an extension of this thinking. Its iroko frame — solid, essential — grounds the piece, while its cushions, soft and generous, suggest the promise of long afternoons careening between sun and shade. The reclining backrest tilts just so, catching the breeze. A hidden compartment beneath, discreet but deliberate, holds a towel, a book, whatever is necessary to prolong the moment. Poliform, like Massaud, understands the power of restraint. What is left unsaid, what is left unadorned, carries as much weight as what is present. Founded in 1970 as a small family-run workshop in Italy’s Brianza region, Poliform has since become synonymous with a particular kind of contemporary elegance — modular, adaptable, always considered. Its collaboration with Massaud reflects a shared commitment to craftsmanship that is both precise and unobtrusive. The Ketch sunbed is not merely a piece of outdoor furniture. It is a study of the space between hard and soft, nature and design, utility and indulgence.

Jean-Marie Massaud, Ernest Sofa System, 2024

Jean-Marie Massaud is a radical — or at least, the Ernest sofa he designed for Poliform is. It’s a piece that takes comfort to an extreme, inviting the eye to linger on its generous volumes, expanses of upholstery that can be arranged in a multitude of ways — small or large, linear or L-shaped. This, Massaud suggests, is the ideal “domestic landscape” — a phrase that gestures toward something bigger, a vision of home that is alive, evolving, adaptable. It also nods to Italy: The New Domestic Landscape, the seminal 1972 MoMA exhibition that introduced the American market to the radical spirit of Italian design, which Poliform has been part of since its founding in 1970. Massaud’s Ernest system carries forward that modern, modular ethos. There are more than 30 different upholstery configurations to choose from, structured in long, continuous lines that give the sofa its sculptural rhythm. There’s a touch of the 1970s in its proportions — especially when upholstered in velvet — recalling the era of low-slung loungescapes and conversation pits. But Ernest isn’t nostalgic. It brings that expansive approach to comfort firmly into the present. It’s something Massaud does exceptionally well, not just in his work for Poliform (other standout pieces include the Leopold chair and the Brera sofa) but across his architectural and industrial design projects, too. A graduate of the prestigious ENSCI school in Paris, he has worked at the intersection of form and function for decades, creating everything from a volcano-inspired soccer stadium in Guadalajara — merging built structures with the landscape — to the lightweight ME.WE concept car for Toyota. In each case, he distills an idea down to its essence, stripping away excess without ever sacrificing warmth. With Ernest, he brings this same philosophy to the home.