Alfredo Häberli Design Development

The sofa DS-373 is my homage to de Sede’s fascination with neck-leather. The folds in this five millimetre thick leather are so elegantly arranged that a single bullhide creates an understated, perfectly-formed sofa. The basis and inspiration was a small leather elephant found at a flea market. Made from a smooth piece of leather, it features an exquisitely folded design, giving it its three-dimensional shape.

Following other designs for de Sede, including the smart, flexible structure (DS-480), the intelligent folds of the patchwork pattern (DS-88), and the fine craftsmanship in the three-dimensional stitched lines of the (DS-110), my vision for the DS-373 was to showcase the extremely thick yet supple neck-leather and the statement neck fold design. When designing the DS-373, my primary goal was to develop an understated, stripped-back shape in a refined piece of bullhide in a way which allowed the unique grain of the neck-leather to highlight the expression of the design. During this process, I focused on the pattern, scaled-down stitching and ergonomics.

The model’s form is based on neck-leather’s natural qualities. The 5 mm thick bullhide gives the product its signature expression and forms the basis of the design. It began with a piece of neck-leather, which went on to inspire my vision and ultimately produced the DS-373 with some help from the de Sede expert team. Another of the model’s most impressive aspects is the way in which a single piece of leather fits seamlessly across all parts, the back and the seat cushions.