Carlo Sampietro

Cloche Sofa is an ongoing body of work that transforms elements of urban infrastructure into sculptural furniture objects, operating at the intersection of design, public sculpture, and social critique. The project reflects on the evolution of the urban landscape by dismantling established construction standards and repurposing found materials into hybrid forms that oscillate between functionality and symbolic presence.

The series originated with a prototype made from a reclaimed New York sewage pipe, transformed into a fully functional modular sofa. Subsequent iterations explored different materials and scales, including copper with velvet upholstery and illuminated Plexiglas inserts, walnut sofa and armchair configurations, stainless steel, birch, and white-lacquered oversized prototypes. Concrete and PVC versions remain in development.

Across its evolving material translations, Cloche Sofa renders the hybrid status of the object—simultaneously infrastructure and domestic furniture—almost imperceptible at first glance. By reclaiming materials that have outlived their original use, the work questions hierarchies of value, permanence, and utility within contemporary urban culture.