A look back at the year's coolest interior design collaborations

The Sofa Workshop and V&A partnership resulted in three furniture ranges and six fabric designs

It has been the year of the collaboration. From IKEA X Adidas to Habitat X Shrimps, we have seen brands twist and fuse to create the most striking clothing, accessories and design items, bearing uncanny and delightful resemblances to each company involved.

The unexpected commingling of design houses, from high street to heritage, has really kept us on our toes.

The psychological space that the consumer allows for collaborations will be as wide and as lucrative for as long as they are excited by seeing top brands move in directions that feel right alongside other brands they respect.

I spoke to some spokespeople leading the collaborations market. The four collaborations discussed suggest that sometimes the most effective way to spice up your brand is to collaborate.

Nolii

First up is Nolii, a new tech brand simplifying and cool-ifying the technology we use everyday, solving the unending frustration with knotted and broken wires. The new brand is the result of a collaboration between Asad Hamir, entrepreneur and founder of eyewear brand, Kite, and Benjamin Hubert, designer and founder of Layer, a design agency specialising in smart domestic appliances and intelligent furniture systems.

Martin Waller and Kit Kemp worked closely to create the collaborative Andrew Martin wallpaper collection

Hamir has sought out collaborations throughout his career and believes they are integral to the path of a successful business.

“I’ve used collaborations for different reasons but I think overall, collaborations are really important for any brand to create value in some way – be that in expertise, brand enhancement, marketing and reaching new communities,” he says.

Asked why he believed Hubert would make a great business partner, Hamir tells me that there were distinct similarities between themselves and their brands.

“I was looking for a design house that could match to my vision of creating technology that was intuitive to use, highly functional and beautiful at the same time,” he explains. “Benjamin’s studio and its projects at the time were a great fit for this but more than anything Benjamin himself showed the same passion that I did for the sector.”

Hamir believes this personal chemistry is key. He adds that the pair, “hit it off pretty much from the first meeting. It felt right for Benjamin to come on board as a co-founder of Nolii.”

Kit Kemp X Andrew Martin

From the uber-modern to the classically inspired now, with a new collaboration from Andrew Martin, a global design house, and Kit Kemp, renowned interior designer and co-owner of Firmdale Hotels.

The Kit Kemp for Andrew Martin collection of wallpapers and fabrics is a celebration of heritage colours and folk illustration. The motifs, largely depicting wildlife and agricultural scenes, were inspired by early Renaissance European tapestries and Native American petroglyphs.

On seeing the collection at the Walton Street showroom, spend some time examining the patterns, discovering more and more the longer you look.

The collection brings together a love of the artisan and mythical creatures

The collaboration is certainly a natural one, as Kemp and Martin Waller, founder of Andrew Martin, tell me they have always had a close working relationship, especially since Kemp won the Andrew Martin International Interior Designer of the Year Award in 2008. The collection reflects Kemp’s inimitable eye for pattern, and Andrew Martin’s intelligent and nuanced cognisance of colour.

Of the new fabrics and wallpapers, Kemp says: “Every living space should have elements to capture the imagination and enchant. We wanted a hand drawn, crafted collection bringing our love of the artisan and mythical creatures together. The colours are joyful and fresh.”

Sofa Workshop X V&A

Another incredibly visually arresting collaboration launched last month between Sofa Workshop and the V&A. The new sofa styles range from traditional to contemporary in shape, and are upholstered in a new fabric collection of prints inspired by the V&A’s vast archive. From 16th century silk textiles to fin de siècle florals and 1920s art deco prints, the collection covers a broad and exciting range of aesthetic movements and styles.

When I spoke to the Lauren Sizeland, head of licensing at the V&A, it was clear the collaboration was the product of months of deliberation and discussion about how best to represent both brands within one collection.

Sizeland detailed that “a great deal of consideration and skill has been applied to every piece, from the selection of the archive pieces for the shapes of the sofas and the fabrics, to the incredible expertise of the upholsterers in the workshop. The results are really very special.”

Asked why she believed a collaboration with Sofa Workshop would be so successful, Sizeland tells me: “The original purpose of the V&A was to promote excellence in design and manufacturing. Sofa Workshop undeniably shares these values, with a true focus on and respect for craftsmanship and supporting British industry.”

Megan Holloway, the marketing manager at Sofa Workshop, believes this collection has come about at a particularly poignant time for the interiors industry.

“Each of the fabrics has a story to tell,” she says. “The collection is completely archive-inspired and each fabric was selected for distinct reasons. For example, the Love Birds fabric, seen on our new Thurloe design, is a Chinoiserie motif, as popular now as it was in the early 20th Century with the recent rise of maximalism in interiors. Similarly, the Kaleidoscope fabric was chosen as it echoes the ubiquity of art deco silhouettes in the most-sought after homes today.”

Born X Land Rover

Finally, perhaps the design collaboration to end all design collaborations: the Born Awards X Land Rover. Born is the first ever premium digital network for design industry greats, retailers and brands to allow them to connect and help to protect the design community on a global level.

Founded by JC Chopin in 2010, Born is a celebration of design and creativity all over the world. It holds an annual awards ceremony, the Born Awards, to highlight the best in class within categories such as interiors, fashion and tech. The awards took place at the Design Museum earlier this month in partnership with Land Rover, a collaboration that centres around respect for design and the credentials of each company.

The collaboration came about through a recognition of an alignment of values between Born and Land Rover. Born recognised that Land Rover creates, what the brand terms, the “car for creators”, while Land Rover sees in Born a reverence and support for global design that the car manufacturer was eager to champion.

The Land Rover Born Awards honoured creative intelligence (Tom Nicholson)

The product of this partnership was a grand and celebratory dinner and awards ceremony, where design greats were recognised for their contributions to the industry. Winners included Sheila Loewe of the Loewe Foundation, Michael Anastassiades for his work with Flos, Javier Goyenche of Ecoalf and the team behind Brompton Bikes, Will Butler-Adams, Will Clareysmith and David Rhys.

Of the awards and the success of the annual events, Chopin says: “To see creative intelligence displayed in such varied ways across so many different categories was the purpose of creating the awards with Land Rover. Its continued success and growth proves what a valuable platform it is to designers, both emerging and established.”