Now we don’t have to rely on partners, friends, or strangers, to come to our aid, thanks to South Korean designer Lee Eun Kyoung.
Inspired by watching her sister interact with her newborn son, Lee, 28, has created the Free Hug Sofa with soft bendy arms that wrap users in a warm embrace.
“Because the sofa gives the feeling of being alive, it will hold you warm and soft like your mother, friend and a lover without feeling lonely,” promises Lee.
“It will present the dream of innocent childhood by giving the feeling of the soft heart of mother or the arms of the doll wrapping around you in your childhood.”
The award-winning design also brings comfort to people with ailments or other physical needs.
“The cushion was put on the sofa before but this product combined the sofa and the cushion which moves freely,” Lee told the A’Design awards committee which gave the idea a bronze medal in the furniture design competition.
“Accordingly, the usability is unlimited for user preference. It can provide a play material to children, a plastic sheet or a laptop pad to teenagers, the convenience of breastfeeding to the mother, the warm stomach to women and the comfortable back to the elderly.”
The chair took Lee, a fine arts graduate from Hongik University in Seoul, two years to create, from inception to final product.
Although not yet available to buy, when it does come on the market, it will be available in white, grey, and red – “because hugs are wonderful in every colour,” she says.
