For this year’s Clerkenwell Design Trail, Modus presents a more circular approach to upholstery with the launch of Maluma, a playful new seating system from Swedish designers Claesson Koivisto Rune.

Maluma is a joyful, sectional seating system consisting of a circular seat with rounded backrest. Each seat can be connected to its neighbour to create free form, bead like strings of seating. From a single seat, Maluma can evolve into organic waves, rings, arches and snaking lines, or more regimented, linear seating, whatever suits the space. Seats connect with +/- 15 degrees of movement around their centre point, enabling a myriad of forms to be created from barely-there curves, to configurations with a much more intimate arc. A backless seat and table top created from recycled plastic add a further element of variety to an endless array of shape making possibilities.

Maluma - Designed for Disassembly

Skilfully designed with minimal fixings and no cross contamination of materials, Maluma is truly designed for disassembly, each seat can be separated into its component parts with zero glue and removable covers, making refurbishment at end of life a doddle and ensuring multiple lives in use.

Adaptable, resourceful and fun, Maluma brings a playful approach to furniture design but is deadly serious about minimising waste and resource use. Come and see the possibilities Maluma has to offer in the Modus showroom.

The word ‘maluma’ comes from the maluma/takete effect, a result shown in sound-shape studies where participants are asked to match a sound, either takete or maluma, with a spiky or a rounded shape. To form the sounds, the mouth shapes rounded, soft consonants and long vowel sounds or harsher, teeth driven consonants. The results, whilst not universal, are generally consistent regardless of language and suggest that words are not arbitrarily chosen but that the sensory experience of speech itself helps shape the evolution of language. Come and decide for yourself, takete or maluma.