The Anatomy of Comfort: Inside Otto Foam Free
Inspiration, News
For decades, polyurethane foam has been the dominant material in upholstered furniture, and with reason. It’s lightweight, durable, consistent and efficient. But long before foam became the norm, upholstery was built using layers of natural materials such as wool, horsehair and coir.
With our Otto Foam Free sofa, we wanted to explore what those materials could offer to a contemporary piece of commercial furniture. Together, they create a different comfort profile: breathable, naturally resilient and supportive, with a richness and responsiveness that comes directly from the materials themselves.
Why a foam free option, not a foam free collection?
Because sustainability is rarely as simple as replacing one material with another.
Foam is derived from petrochemicals, while the principal materials within Otto Foam Free come from renewable natural sources. Reducing reliance on fossil-derived materials is an important reason for exploring alternatives.
But that doesn’t make every environmental comparison straightforward.
The foam used in standard Otto is manufactured locally in the UK, with great efficiency and using renewable electricity. Its low density also matters: much of its volume is air. By contrast, natural materials bring different advantages, including renewability, breathability and the potential to be fully biodegradable, but of course have impacts of their own through agriculture, processing and transportation.
Carbon data only tells part of the story, and even there the answer depends heavily on how impacts are measured and allocated.
So rather than create a new product around the claim that one material is simply “better”, we chose to create two versions of Otto. Each takes a fundamentally different approach to materials, creating options that maximise their inherent sustainability benefits, and providing two products that both have positive environmental qualities as well as a different physical feel.
The conversation around sustainability often pushes towards certainty: better/worse, good/bad, sustainable/unsustainable. However, materials don’t behave that neatly and different projects place different priorities on different impacts. Otto reflects this reality by offering clear choices rather than pretending there is a single right answer.
Two approaches. Different strengths. Same design.
Explore Otto Foam Free, or take a closer look at our Product Data Card here for the full material composition, and carbon breakdown