The right stuff: How materials are transforming spaces

Materials have the powerful ability to transform interiors. If qualities from surface texture to acoustic effects can profoundly shift an atmosphere, why not craft an experience that is unexpected, richly layered with combinations of shape, colour, aura – a backdrop that is worthy of the theatre of life?

Selecting and inventing materials that reflect, respond and forge ambience is Italian furniture brand Edra’s forte. ‘For us, form is substance and substance is material,’ says Monica Mazzei, Edra’s Vice President. Across the collection, material palettes are researched in depth, with each addition being high quality and technologically innovative, yet also deeply engaged with beauty, timelessness, harmony with nature, rooted in tradition yet simultaneously contemporary.

Aesthetic, dynamic and functional

Edra’s furniture is characterised by movement – with pliable backrests and intelligent cushions – requiring a responsive and high-performance upholstery. Material colour, yarn, texture and production process breathe life into adaptive surfaces that are sculptural, organic and complex – while innovative internal structures, such as Gellyfoam®, provide supportive padding that embraces the body and its movements in every position.

‘Whether glass, metal, polycarbonate, padding or fabrics, materials must meet requirements that represent the core values ​​of the products: comfort, performance, attention to detail, ecology, universal use and durability over time,’ explains Mazzei.

The ability of Edra’s materials is that they can be placed in all kinds of interiors from contemporary to historic, offering unique tactile and visual identities, forming a presence that is memorable. The best way to experience this is during Milan Design Week, when Edra displays its products across the historic Palazzo Durini – its permanent showroom in Milan, with ornate Baroque interiors and stone courtyards – and through an installation that reflects the Spazio Edra concept envisioned for Edra spaces worldwide, framed by dark neutrals and mirrored surfaces.

Building lively material narratives

In 2025, across these spaces, Edra presented three material collections including Gems, Glossy Matt and Every Stone. Nature and capturing an ‘aliveness’ have been an important inspiration for building the collections. Mazzei explains: ‘Often it is an intuition that comes from the way of looking at the world around us, grasping its beauty.’

For example, Gems is a collection of nine materials inspired by the qualities of precious stones. Each texture is three-dimensional, with a shifting weight and consistency, and colours that illuminate with glittering yarns – with names such as Moonstone, Malachite and Grey Sapphire. These materials enhance the softness and geometries of Edra’s sofas and armchairs.

Glossy Matt combines as a soft, luminous chenille, with a compact, natural-wool bouclé. It intertwines two yarns of opposite characteristics into an outsize weave with an effect that is shiny and opaque, full and nuanced. While for outdoor environments, the Every Stone collection takes marble as its inspiration: nine nuanced variations – such as Delicate Cream, Imperial Red, Alpine Green and Nero Marquinia – are resistant to light and weather and can be proposed for outdoor versions of Edra sofas such as On the Rocks, Sherazade and Standard.

‘I’m fascinated by minerals and stones: the colours, the variations in opacity and brilliance, the irregular surfaces that are ‘pure life’. So, we translate them into living materials, with weight, different depths and memory capable of upholstering our models,’ explains Mazzei.

Balancing identity and harmony

By merging tradition, technology and timeless design, these materials hold both an alluring presence and the ability to harmonise. Other locations where Edra’s products perform these qualities include the Quirinale Palace, the Italian Embassies in Paris and Washington DC – yet also museums such as the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome, the Querini Stampalia Foundation, and even outside amid the picturesque landscapes of Tuscany.

‘A transversal material is capable of responding to mechanical and dynamic needs without ever giving up beauty. It is rigorous work, it takes passion and knowledge. This work is carried out with the idea that even a new colour or a material variation can give life to something completely new, always new,’ concludes Mazzei.

© Architonic

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