There are trends, and then there are classics. Not every design is able, or meant, to stand the test of time. The ones that do are singular in their vision: a quiet commitment to beauty and function and comfort and quality, all at once, in poetic cohesion.

Such is the case with Flexform‘s Groundpiece sofa, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Since Antonio Citterio designed the Groundpiece in 2001, it has witnessed many of its contemporaries come and go, and still it has stood strong as the welcoming anchor of any living room. It has witnessed changes in design styles, from minimalist to maximalist, and back again (more than once); it has seen colour tendencies shift from dark to light to bright; it has watched as materials have been innovated, reinvented, and returned to. Even as habits and lifestyles have shifted over the years, with closed-off rooms making way for open-plan spaces that allow for movement from the counter to the sofa with ease, the Groundpiece has endured, offering the chance not just to sit, not just to recline, but to take time. To converse. To get to know oneself a little better. To simply exist.

Accessible and practical but far from boring, the Groundpiece features a relaxed, low-to-the-ground body and luxuriously deep seat, allowing for a more laidback experience, as if one is enveloped in its warm embrace. The sofa’s signature armrest features built-in shelving for simple and discreet storage of books, trinkets, and other household items, offering a sense of discreet utility and contemporary character. Taking subtle but poignant inspiration from the minimalist, geometric works of American sculptor Donald Judd, the Groundpiece is as inviting as it is alluring, itself a work of domestic art.

Images courtesy of Flexform.