For Haldane Martin, design is about expressing your identity – one’s time and place. He’s encapsulated this perfectly with the reinvention of his iconic Songololo sofa – using past inspiration for pleasant pleasures.

The inspiration for Haldane Martin’s original Songololo Sofa, created nearly two decades ago, was an actual songololo – the creepy-crawly South African millipede. ‘It’s able to curl up into a circle and unfurl into limitless shapes with a multitude of legs,’ explains Haldane.

Now, Haldane has reinvented the iconic and much-loved sofa for the outdoors.

Why? ‘There’s quite a retro revival in design right now,’ he says. ‘The Songololo has that type of appeal; it gives a nod to the ‘70s sectional sofa by Ueli Berger – but it’s more now and more unique. Also, as a brand, we’re focusing on outdoor designs, so it’s exciting to add such a powerful piece to our repertoire.’

Commenting on how the two designs differ, Haldane says, ‘Refinement. It’s been perfected. It’s more “biff” (South African slang for structurally solid) than its predecessor, which was usually in leather and designed for the indoors. It’s been refined for outdoors. Perfected. The new release has improved functionality, it can be upholstered in outdoor fabrics and it has more diverse colours on the UV-stable, with powder-coated aluminium legs. It’s also physically stronger and the fixtures are less visible, which was something that bugged me. I’m really proud of this one.’

Click on the featured link below to read the full article written by Lynette Botha with photography by Brett Rubin in ‘Breathe’ House & Leisure Magazine Vol 3, Summer 2021.