Nature is often the go-to inspiration for design, but award-winning French designer Sam Baron and De La Espada Atelier take that idea and make it strikingly literal. Their limited-edition Ensemble collection doesn’t just nod to the outdoors but borrows directly from its forms and silhouettes, reinterpreting them in wood, stone, and textiles. The result is the next best thing to being in the forest, only brought indoors.
Unlike many collections born from a single designer’s vision, Ensemble is the result of nine creative minds working in concert. Led by Baron, the process brought together eight members of De La Espada Atelier, each contributing not just their skills but their perspective. Every detail was carefully considered as a group. The outcome isn’t a lone idea executed by a team of makers, but a shared vision shaped through experimentation, dialogue, and the collective imagination of the ensemble itself.
Ensemble’s pieces are compelling on their own, but their full power comes when experienced together. Like trees in a forest, they create something larger than the sum of their parts. “Each Ensemble product can stand alone, but when brought together, they create a space that makes you feel small, like being immersed in a forest,” shares David Taipina of De La Espada Atelier.
The Musgo Sofa looks nothing like a traditional sofa, but it invites you to explore until you find your comfort, like choosing where to rest along a hillside slope. Its Danish oiled walnut stool offers upright support, functioning as both seat and tabletop.
The Tronco High-Back Chair rises with a backrest over two meters tall, recalling the act of leaning against a towering tree trunk. Its seat reveals a striking tapestry of end grain, lifting you gently off the ground.
The Escarpa High-Back Upholstered Chair brings a similar forest presence, this time with an upholstered seat in verdant fabric. On the opposite side, walnut is punctuated with marble details that recall moss spreading across bark.
With the Toro Daybed, the expressive language turns horizontal. This daybed, designed for solo lounging or sharing, evokes the feeling of a fallen tree trunk, now a place to pause and gather.
The Cepo Stool/Side Table reimagines the humble tree stump as a simple perch or side table where the beauty of solid wood takes center stage. The Turfa Stool/Side Table echoes Cepo’s silhouette but in glazed ceramic. Each stool bears its own melange of green, the result of an artisanal glazing process that ensures no two are exactly alike.
Like stepping into a forest clearing where trees, moss, and stone meet, Ensemble invites you to explore an indoor collection as you would the outdoors. Both sculptural and functional, it is a forest translated into furniture – shaped by nature’s inspiration, honed by craftsmanship, and made possible through collaboration.
To learn more about the Ensemble collection by Sam Baron and De La Espada Atelier, visit us.delaespada.com.
Photography by Inês Silva Sá.