It was only a few weeks ago that I was trying to figure out how to remove the remnants of a wine gum that was fused to the leather of my sofa after it had been sat on for six hours during a particularly fiercely contested FIFA marathon. The answer, as usual, was a slightly damp cloth… it came right off. I’m sure other people’s sofas have got worse stories to tell. Anyway, that brings us to Dirty Furniture, a publication which takes essential furniture out of the showroom and examines them as they were designed to function – in the real world. The item in question is only a springboard, though, and topics under investigation range from politics, design, history, technology, psychology, manufacturing – and some weird angles you would never have considered.
The magazine, edited by Anna Bates, Elizabeth Glickfeld and Pete Maxwell and designed by Sara De Bondt Studio, has been conceived as a finite run of six editions. The inaugural release is Couch, and among the aspects under consideration are the price tag of haunted furniture, the sofaʼs role in genetic surveillance and the peculiar phenomenon of Channel 4 telly genius Gogglebox. The remaining issues will be titled Table, Toilet, Closet, Telephone and Bed; get a sneak preview and pre-order Couch ahead of its September launch via the Dirty Furniture Kickstarter page.
