Moroso’s Victoria & Albert Sofa in African print fabric at Milan Furniture Fair 2009
African American designer Stephen Burks was asked to design an exhibition based in Moroso’s Milan showroom. His work is a contemporary vision of Africa, translating traditional crafts into an industrial product. Seen here are Moroso furniture designs covered in patchworks of African textiles. This theme of mixing old and new carrys over into the design of the textile. In the detail shot you can see the handset from a games console used in a traditionally styled fabric design. Mixing images of popular culture into these traditional fabrics is not unique to this project - its a whole fascinating subject in its self! www.moroso.it 
Arne Jacobson’s Egg Chair covered by Danish Artist Tal R
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Egg Chair in 2008 Fritz Hansen the producer of the Egg Chair commisioned artist Tal R to recover this iconic chair. He came up with 50 patchwork versions.
“The idea of combining this representative symbol of Danish Design which qualifies as high culture with patchwork which qualifies as popular culture, intrigued me. Patchwork is like a bubble and squeak of blankets. It’s the leftovers from the workroom, and traditionally something people have made together. It’s associated with collectivity. For example, people used to send patches by chain letters, and then one day you’d have enough to make an entire quilt.”
The chairs were first exhibited at Galleria Carla Sozzani as part of the 2008 Milan furniture Fair and are currently on tour around the world. For more info go to www.fritzhansen.com
Squint Limited specialise in creating unique patchwork covered furniture and accessories. Using a variety of fabrics from vintage silks and damasks to contemporary prints each piece is priced according to the type of fabric used. The range certainly isn’t cheap – £250 for a cushion up to £5000 for a sofa.
