Morgan, a leading contract furniture designer and manufacturer, will launch its new Kaya lounge collection at Sleep + Eat 2019 (19th-20th November, Olympia London) on stand C60.

Taking its name from sacred forests spread along 200 km of the Kenyan coast, Kaya finds its roots in the openness, honesty and purity of trees. The crafted timber frames, gentle curve and soft upholstery are designed to provide relaxed luxury.

Kaya lounge chairs

Simplicity is further embodied in the upholstery, which features only the most essential elements, sculpted and fitted to provide enveloping comfort. Juxtaposing soft informality with timber’s clean geometry required a precise balancing act.

With an emphasis on space and light, the collection evokes an atmosphere of ‘komorebi’, the Japanese word for the sunshine filtering through leaves. As with a lush woodland, Kaya’s serene frame finds strength in numbers. Individual timber sections have been kept small with multiple lightweight supports in place of a single, larger component.

Kaya lounge chair

While Kaya draws inspiration from nature, technology played a crucial role in its production. The frame’s smooth, curving lines were made possible with Computer Numerical Control (CNC). Morgan uses any timber which is removed to help heat its manufacturing facility with a biomass boiler.

Katerina Zachariades, Morgan’s design director, comments: “Relying on trends in the design world means whatever you produce will be bound by the tastes of a certain point in time. At Morgan, we like to look to things which have stood the test of time, from artwork of various styles to elements of the natural world.

“With Kaya, we wanted to look beyond the heavy materials and density of the built environment, peeling back the surface to reveal the pure form within.”

The Kaya collection is versatile, intended for interiors from hospitality through to the workplace. While the smaller lounge chair caters to projects requiring a smaller footprint, the larger lounge and high back chairs maintain a greater presence and impact within spacious environments such as lobbies, breakout areas and gallery spaces.