In 1987, the director of the newly established Italian furniture company Edra, Valerio Mazzei, and creative director, Massomi Morozzi, spotted Zaha Hadid’s sofa and coffee table designs for 24 Cathcart Road in an interior magazine. They were intrigued and contacted her to propose a collaboration.
After meeting with Hadid in London, Edra developed the Wavy-Back and Whoosh sofas, and Metal Carpet table for commercial production. They also asked Hadid to design an additional, smaller piece, the Projection sofa. The red sofa comprised three slabs coming together, inspired by constructivist art and architecture, which were supported on a zig-zag base. The design of the original ‘whoosh’ and ‘wavy-back’ sofas remained the same, but the construction had to change. Their curvilinearity was achieved using moulded woods and fibreglass by a motorcycle modelmaker.
In September 1988, the collection launched at the Salone del Mobile in Milan at the legendary Studio 54 nightclub. For the occasion, Edra published a handout with a stylised cover illustration of Hadid smoking a cigarette, which featured her distinctive painting of the red Projection sofa. Although produced in small numbers, the collection was available between 1988 to 1993. It marks Hadid’s first collaboration with an international furniture brand, which would be followed by commercial designs for Sawaya & Moroni and Vitra, amongst others.
