When it comes to coveted furniture, there is a tendency to cling to the (admittedly great) designs of the past: the Eames chair is basically the little black dress of any home, whereas Italian modernist sofas like the Togo, the Camaleonda, or those by De Sede sell out almost as soon as they are in stock. Very few contemporary brands—and even fewer not backed by big conglomerates—have been able to break through the nostalgic noise: except for Ellison Studios.
First it was their Huggy chair, which was scooped up by tastemakers like Jenna Lyons and Elsa Hosk. Then, their Float sofa, spied in Aurora James’s Laurel Canyon home as well as in the historic landmark Stahl House. Their latest statement design? The Poet Sofa.
Leigh McKeown and Tiffany Powell sit on the Poet Sofa.
Photo: Ellison Studios
Ellison Studios co-founder Leigh McKeown designed the Poet in collaboration with Tiffany Powell of Night Palm, the Elle Decor A-List interior designer who counts Doechii and Laura Harrier among her clients. It has a curved back and a biomorphic shape, with McKeown describing the design as “feminine.” There are three colorways: a neutral dune, a statement jade green, and a tactile camel boucle. “We knew we wanted something a bit bigger, and we wanted something very sculptural,” he says.
McKeown and Powell, the latter of whom was a music video director before becoming an interior designer, say they found inspiration in British singer Sade: “We’re like, ‘Okay, if she were to have a sofa, what would that look like?’” says McKeown, with Powell adding that she wanted to infuse the design with nods to the ’70s, ’80s, and a bit of “sexy rock and roll.” She also wanted to make the sofa feel like the star piece in the room, rather than something that blends in: “I wanted it to be romantic and cinematic,” she says. “I think of all the beautiful events that imprint on the sofa—watching a movie, kisses, parties. When we designed it, it had to have this type of scale to allow these memorable things to happen on this piece of furniture.”
The campaign images for the sofa were shot at a multi-million-dollar cliffside home in Malibu, where the Poet sits in a grand glass room overlooking the Pacific Ocean. In a room that was built to be a statement, the sofa still manages to be the main one. Exactly how McKeown and Powell intended.
