Mobius: Redefining Luxury with Stone and Carbon Fibre

Unveiling the Award-Winning Mobius Sofa by New Fundamentals Research Group

The Mobius Sofa, designed by the New Fundamentals Research Group, is a marvel of modern design. Its inspiration comes from the Mobius strip, a surface with only one side and one boundary, discovered by German mathematicians August Ferdinand Mobius and Johann Benedict Listing in 1858. The sofa embodies this mathematical concept, presenting itself as a continuous band of Perlato di Sicilia, a marble from Sicily, reinforced with a layer of carbon fibre.

The unique properties of the Mobius Sofa lie in its state-of-the-art research into stone materials and manufacturing techniques. The seat is configured as continuous 2 centimetres thick bands of Perlato di Sicilia, reinforced by applying a layer of carbon fibre on the back. The bands are made up by assembling a few lightweight pieces manufactured using CNC machinery. This approach emphasises the enormous unexplored potential of stone as a contemporary material for industrial design.

The fabrication of the parts that form the sofa is a meticulous process. It begins with a solid block containing the whole piece, which is then moulded and reinforced with carbon or glass fibre. The fibre-reinforced block is rotated and milled on the other side until the desired thickness is achieved. All the parts are then glued together, and the stone and carbon fibre are polished to perfection.

The Mobius Sofa is not just a piece of furniture; it's an interaction piece. Its surprising thinness and resistance make it suitable for luxury environments and exhibitions alike. The project, which started in December 2015 in Bari, Italy, and Rivera, Switzerland, was exhibited in Marmomacc Verona in October 2016.

The project was a collaboration between the New Fundamentals Research Group and the Ticino-based company, Generelli SA. The research aimed to investigate the architectural uses of free-form panels made of natural stone, reinforced with carbon fibre. The combination of these two materials allowed for a reduction in the thickness of the stone components to a few millimetres, achieving great structural performance.

The Mobius Sofa is a testament to overcoming design challenges. The main problem with this type of shape is related to fabrication. Stone manufacturing is increasingly implementing CNC and robotic machines, but very few artisans are able to push forward the potentialities of these tools. Another problem was to make the stone so thin without cracks or failures. Carbon fibre solved this issue, as it needs a support material before being hardened with resins, and stone is a good support material for carbon fibre. The final composite material has more properties than the sum of the original two.

The Mobius Sofa was awarded the Golden A' Furniture Design Award in 2017, a testament to its outstanding design and trendsetting creation. This design is patented under Patent No. 16155341.7 by Moreno Generelli and Matteo Generelli in 2016 in Switzerland.