Cloud Nine: Gubi Launches Ethereal New Pacha Collection & Space-Age Stemlite

70s style is having a moment. From cloud-shaped sofas to space-age table lamps, the decade “that style forgot” suddenly looks like a goldmine for avant-garde ideas about modern living. It helps that there is nothing nostalgic about the designs being reissued. The shapes are sculpted and cool — more Jetsons-luxe than Brady Bunch. Leading the fore is luxury Danish brand, Gubi, whose new Pacha Sofa and Stemlite luminaires promise to enchant even the most stringent of aesthetes. To paraphrase a band from the era — we just can’t get enough. 

Stemlite Collection by Bill Curry

Stemlite Table Lamp

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For as long as we have roamed the Earth, man has gazed up at the stars. In the 1960s, longing looks were replaced with runaway hopes as the fervour of the Space Race brought them closer than ever before. The impending proximity with the cosmos did not go unnoticed. A flurry of new designers emerged, each determined to try and decipher its mysteries. One of those men was Bill Curry — an LA-based creative at the heart of the burgeoning US design scene.

While he would go on to design a plethora of lighting solutions, the ethereal Stemlite collection was to be his crowning jewel. Slender and futuristic, the delicate stems give way to alien blooms — the first example of a ‘total look’ lamp (a pioneering new typology which replaced the traditional base-plus-shade combo with a sleek all-in-one design). In paring light back to its simplest and most visually compelling form, he paved the way for a new era of contemporary lighting while drawing a parallel between the nature of light and life.

New Pacha Designs by Pierre Paulin

Pacha Lounge Chair with Armrests

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Another man with his head in the clouds was Pierre Paulin — a French designer who described his style as “functional, with a dash of poetry”. Part of his artistic vocation involved taking everyday organic forms — mushrooms, tulips, clouds — and transforming them into livable works of art. And so it was that from skidding, fuzzy sketches the Pacha Lounge Chair was born. All svelte curves and body-hugging silhouette, it introduced a new, more relaxed way of lounging — low-slung and informal.

And yet it was always Paulin’s dream to see a modular version made — ethereal cloud formations that could drift together with ease. Faithfully adapted from Pierre Paulin’s sketchbook, the new Pacha additions are every bit as whimsical as the designer intended. The addition of delicate armrests lends a puffy, nebula-like quality to the sculpted silhouette — opening up new and improved possibilities for lounging. There is even an ottoman — ideal as a versatile seating option or for popping your feet up after work. Check out all the new items below.

SHOP GUBI’S 2020 NOVELTIES ONLINE AT CHAPLINS