Something Beginning With – The Interiors Addict

Curved steel & pastels combine for fab new furniture range

I’ve profiled SBW (Something Beginning With) before and continue to have a soft spot for their feminine (but not too pretty) furniture designs. The work of Melbourne duo Laelie Berzon and Lisa Vincitorio, their latest collection ‘Halo’ is another original outing that makes fabulous use of colour – a design signature for the brand.

“We love the Halo collection! It can be easily incorporated into a variety of different spaces. The focal point being the arc form – creating graphic boldness. It’s clean and balanced, has a sense of visual lightness, spaciousness and continuity, and most importantly has a beautiful silhouette,” says Laelie of the range that consists of a chair, high stool, lounge chair, three seat sofa plus side and coffee tables.

The circular steel tube detail is a throwback to the 1980’s and is available in a range of Dulux and Oxytech powder coat colours. “The introduction of tactile timber finished in solid American Oak in both a natural or coloured stain, creates a lively interplay with the circular steel tube, in powder coated colours,” says Laelie.

“The sofa, the softest piece, not only visually but in comfort, gives a visual illusion of continuous loops from its front perspective through to the arcs being used in the back rest. Creating a soft and almost feminine visual was at the forefront, which is quite different from the rest of our existing collection, but still complementary and able to sit alongside it,” says Laelie of the range that would look equally at home in a commercial and residential spaces.

Available in fabric and leather upholstery, the designers once again used the fabrics from the fashion designer Raf Simons’ collaboration with Kvadrat. “We opted for a soft, feminine and sophisticated spectrum of colours and materials to launch the Halo campaign. For its Australian debut, we upholstered the Halo lounge chair in Kvadrat Rio by Raf Simons, which is a newly launched fabric, and we love that of course! The pigments and woven two colours of thicker yarn create a subtly textured dotting of colour across the surface, and this colour way complemented our palette perfectly,” says Laelie.

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Beautiful bespoke furniture from Melbourne design duo SBW

Drawing on their combined experience in the art, interiors and product design worlds, Lisa Vincitorio and Laelie Berzon’s Melbourne-based company SBW (Something Beginning With) is a refreshing addition to the Australian design scene.

Purveyors of super stylish, locally made, bespoke furniture produced within an impressively short lead time, they are certainly filling a gap in the marketplace. We also love their stunning use of colour and the curved design details too – both elements add a feminine touch to their fairly masculine designs.

The Finn easy chair & coffee table

A formidable pairing, Lisa’s product design career spans almost a decade (she is the youngest Australian designer to ever partner with Alessi), and Laelie has a solid background in interior design, visual arts and the furniture industry. The design duo met while working at a furniture store, and not long after, a business plan was hatched.

“I have always known that someday I would commence a partnership with a likeminded person with the intention to design a collection and distribute it myself. We both wanted to take control of the life of our designs, from concept to implementation,” says Lisa.

“We are passionate about supporting local industry and manufacturing our collection in Melbourne. We relish in the collaborative process behind our brand and collaborate with our clientele to tailor products to suit their needs. Whether it be altering a dimension or customising a colour to co-ordinate with their scheme, we are happy to work together. Our pieces merge high quality design, visual appeal and local manufacturing, all within a four-to-six-week lead time,” says Lisa.

The SBW pair draw on a diverse range of influences when creating their collections. “My childhood influences definitely play a major part. A painting, an interior, a patterned print on a jacket or just a simple walk down the street can exude an emotive reaction and introduce a fresh idea,” says Laelie.

The latest addition to the collection, the Finn range consists of an easy chair and coordinating coffee table. “We’ve embraced the theme of ecology with this range by using an environmentally sustainable recycled frame with a high-resilience, commercial grade fire retardant foam seat and back. Fully upholstered in a selection of fabric or leather, the chair can radically change its appearance, from a single colour to an extremely bright or subtly elegant style,” says Lisa.

The designers

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