Launching on the cusp of summer is the new Villa Collection by South African furniture studio Bofred, which taps into a global wanderlust after our collective experience of being homebound. “The inspiration behind our Villa Collection is drawn from our unbridled excitement to step back into the world and explore once more,” founders Carla Erasmus and Christa Botha write. “The collection evokes the feeling of a summer’s day in a faraway villa.” The designers pulled sensory cues from their own holidays past for inspiration: languid meandering, lingering lunches, the clink of celebratory drinks, and icy ocean dips on sun-drenched afternoons. Snapshots from their own travels accompany the breezy images in their catalog. 

During design and development, Bofred embarked on new territory exploring and ultimately introducing unfamiliar materials and finishes. “We mostly enjoyed designing a piece to naturally look like a particular material but manufactured in another, like the Resort Table Lamp, which reads as glazed ceramic but is made from high gloss wood instead,” they say. “Our Moonrise Mirror and Martini Lamp are made from 100% hand-cast and recycled aluminum, a new manufacturing technique for Bofred. We loved the collaborative process with our manufacturers, Hand Cast Studio, to create the carved-like finish.” 

Names like the Poolhouse Chair, the Seaside Table or the Paradise Plinth extend the reverie and also give clues to the elements that inspired specific features of the designs. “It is hard to imagine a paradise and not see a palm tree, which was the inspiration behind our Paradise Plinth: palm fronds hanging over a sandy beach.” The ridges on the legs of the Palm Console mirror the ragged trunks of tall date palm trees and the curved arms of the Portside Sofa could easily be a cresting wave; its cushion striped like a beach umbrella. Wood in sandy tones and finishes in sky blue transport you from the living room to a far flung shore. Wish you were here.