Designer Charles Wilson on cultivating timeless organic design and collaborating with King Living

By Bryle B. Suralta

Charles Wilson’s claim to fame is perhaps the iconic CW1 Swivel Chair with Woodmark, which he created back in 1995. It was a piece that would serve as the introduction to a prolific design practice. Since then, Wilson has developed a signature style combining clean lines and experiments with almost accidental shapes and ideas.

“I’m always inspired by the sculptural potential in design – whether that be a piece of furniture or any other type of object – and the challenges presented by reconciling that with the functional needs,” says Wilson. “So typically, over the years, my designs tend to be quite organic, but with a fairly disciplined structure.”

Wilson has won numerous awards and partnered with renowned furniture houses including Herman Miller and Menu, and, closer to home, King Living. The latter brand has been a natural fit for Wilson. A pioneer of Australian furniture design, King Living has always emphasised harmony and a consideration of how a piece frames the room – and vice versa.

Wilson first collaborated with King Living in 2009, at the invitation of founder David King himself. “At this stage, I really didn’t know much about the brand, but they were starting to do interesting things and develop internationally,” he explains. “And so I thought this would be a good opportunity.”

King Living also had a reputation for blending innovation with natural materials and traditional handcrafted methods and appealed to Wilson’s own emphasis on practicality. “The collaboration was all about the user experience and the primacy of comfort,” says Wilson. “But also, how should a piece of furniture make the user feel? And what it does to their sense of identity – and their vanity?”

The partnership went on to produce several highly successful pieces, most notably the first ‘Andrea’ sofa, designed around a tubular steel chassis with a refined, feminine form. There was also the ‘Seymour’ armchair, Wilson’s take on mid-century modernism, and the recent ‘Zaza’ sofa in 2018. The Zaza sofa’s gentle, organic lines and luxuriously deep seating reflect both Wilson’s and King Living’s experiences designing for the Australian consumer.

“I wanted to design a more relaxed, contemporary piece incorporating the functional enhancements that King Living specialises in,” Wilson says of the Zaza. “In this case, we developed the sofa with arms that can not only be detached and re-configured but also have these internal hinges that allow them to pivot out.”

The ‘Luna’ Chair is another one of Wilson’s more memorable pieces with King Living, said to have been inspired by the natural flow of nature. The hard outer structure interacts seamlessly with the inviting cushion. Gathered strands of bent steel, meanwhile, accentuate the delicate lines of the shell’s piping. It’s a collection that embodies Australian design in the lightness of its form.

“If there’s one thing that differentiates the Australian market, it’s the preference for a more relaxed lifestyle,” he says. 

“For less formal, fussy or overly decorative design. It’s a modern, easy way of living, and King Living is very much aligned with that.”

For Wilson, it’s less a question of what’s fashionable or contemporary, and more about creating pieces that endure – and captivate. “When I started designing, the word ‘trendy’ was derogatory. Nowadays, people don’t mind it. But I do still do, in a way. I’m not particularly interested in the current trends, but rather in creating pieces that will resonate years down the track,” says Wilson. “And I think and if you can do that, then there’s no better way of staying fresh.”

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