The Mariposa Sofa by Barber Osgerby for Vitra

Mariposa is Spanish for butterfly. Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby gave the name to their sofa for Vitra because of the way it moves: its slim side and back panels tilt outward and return, and that wing-like range of motion, Vitra writes, "reminded the designers of a butterfly."

At rest, you would not guess any of this. Vitra describes a sofa that "radiates an inviting aura of spacious comfort" while keeping "a subtly understated presence thanks to its balanced proportions." The mechanism stays out of sight. What you notice first is the softness, and how much room there is to settle into.

A Sofa Designed to Move

Another way into the sofa Mariposa was first shown at the Salone del Mobile in Milan in 2014. As Jay Osgerby put it, "To design a sofa is not really interesting unless you can find another way in." For the pair, that way in was movement.

Mariposa continued a line of thinking they had begun with Vitra in 2011: seating that moves with the person in it. With Mariposa, that idea is wrapped in upholstery.

Upholstery that surrounds you
Vitra explains that Mariposa's soft padding "completely surrounds the sitter and prevents contact with any hard structural elements." The sofa is soft wherever you lean. 

Side and back panels that tilt
Beneath the upholstery, each side and back panel adjusts on its own, continuously and silently, from upright to an outward angle of around 30 degrees. The resistance is carefully set. Lean back as you normally would and the panels hold their place; press with intent and they move to the angle you want.

In Vitra's words, "this flexibility allows individual users to determine the position that is most comfortable for them."

The Designers: Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby
Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby met studying architecture at the Royal College of Art in London and founded their East London studio in 1996. Over three decades their work has crossed architecture, interiors, sculpture, product and exhibition design. Vitra characterises their approach by "its emphasis on experimentation and innovation and an exploratory attitude to materiality and colour."

They received the Jerwood Prize in 2004, were made Royal Designers for Industry in 2007, and were appointed OBE in 2013 for services to the design industry. Their work is held in the permanent collections of the V&A and the Design Museum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Vitra Design Museum. Mariposa itself was named Best Furniture Design at the 2015 Design Week Awards.

About Vitra
"At Vitra, we believe that environments shape our thoughts and feelings, whether we are at home, at work or on the go." That is how the Swiss company begins its own story. Vitra is a family business now in its third generation, making furniture for the home, the office and public spaces.

Its foundations lie in the work of the American modernists Charles and Ray Eames and George Nelson. Over the decades it has built on them with leading international designers, Barber and Osgerby among them, towards a collection that aims for both functional and aesthetic longevity.

Beyond the furniture is the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, just over the Swiss border in Germany, with buildings by some of the world's leading architects, from Frank Gehry to Zaha Hadid and Tadao Ando. It is also home to the Vitra Design Museum, whose collection of more than 7,000 pieces of furniture includes the estates of Charles and Ray Eames and Verner Panton.