The Four-Poster That Started With a Ceiling - Turner Pocock x Lorfords Contemporary
Some creative partnerships have a habit of coming back to the table.
Ours with Turner Pocock is one of them. Since our first collaboration launched in 2021, we've continued to work closely with Bunny and Emma on client projects, collaborating on ideas and solving design challenges. So, as we celebrate ten years of Lorfords Contemporary, expanding the TP collection felt like a natural continuation of our relationship.
As it turns out, this latest chapter began with a very tall room in Cornwall.
“We were working on a house with incredibly high ceilings,” recalls Emma. “The room needed something with enough presence to hold the space, but we didn't want anything heavy or overly traditional.”
The answer? A four-poster bed.
Not the sort laden with decorative flourishes or draped in fabric. Instead, Bunny and Emma envisioned something softer, more contemporary and quietly architectural.
“It needed to feel cocooning without feeling enclosed,” says Bunny. “We kept coming back to the idea of a four-poster because they instantly create a sense of focus in a room. But we wanted to strip it back completely.”
The result is the centrepiece of our latest capsule collection together and, notably, the first four-poster bed we've ever produced at Lorfords Contemporary.
For our Managing Director, Nasia de la Haye, the project perfectly captures what makes the relationship work. “Ten years felt like the perfect moment to celebrate the people who've genuinely shaped our story,” says Nasia. “Turner Pocock have been part of that journey for years. There's always been this ongoing creative conversation between us, where one project sparks another idea and another challenge.”
And challenges, in our experience, often lead to the most exciting pieces.
The new four-poster doesn't behave like a traditional four-poster at all. Fully upholstered from top to bottom, it has a softness that belies its scale, while the absence of curtains allows the form itself to take centre stage.
“There's something quite surprising about removing the curtains,” says Emma. “You still get that wonderful cocooning feeling, but without blocking the light or views. The whole piece feels calmer.”
Like many of Turner Pocock's best designs, it wasn't born from trend forecasting or market research. It came from a genuine design need.
“All of our favourite pieces come from not being able to find what we're looking for,” laughs Bunny. “We're constantly designing around real rooms and real clients, and sometimes the thing you need simply doesn't exist.”
The same thinking inspired the collection's two new armchairs.
The Wave Chair began life after Bunny and Emma spotted an antique chair in Switzerland. Reimagined for contemporary living, it combines a sculptural silhouette with the sort of comfort that invites daily use.
“We always love furniture that works hard,” says Bunny. “The Wave Chair is decorative, but it's also the perfect chair to throw a jumper on, perch with a coffee, or sit and read for twenty minutes.”
The chair's distinctive silhouette also inspired the new Wave Headboard. Echoing the same flowing lines and upholstered softness, it's a design that has already made its way into Emma's own London apartment.
Then there's the Tiny Chair – perhaps the most relatable piece in the collection for those of us with limited floorspace.
“In so many projects, particularly in London, there's just no room for an occasional chair,” says Emma. “Or at least that's what everyone thinks. We became slightly obsessed with creating something genuinely comfortable that could fit almost anywhere.”
The finished design occupies just 60cm of floor space, making it ideal for bedrooms, dressing rooms and awkward corners where comfort is often sacrificed.
Of course, bringing these ideas to life is where our workshop team comes into its own.
From developing the upholstered four-poster structure to engineering the sprung divan base hidden within it, every piece required the sort of technical problem-solving and craftsmanship that sits at the heart of what we do. Each item is handcrafted in the Cotswolds using natural materials, traditional upholstery techniques and the toxin-free construction methods we've spent the last decade refining.
“We've spent years quietly rethinking how upholstery can be made,” says Nasia. “Removing harmful chemicals, eliminating airborne glues, developing natural alternatives. It's not always the most visible part of what we do, but it's one of the most important.”
As we celebrate our tenth anniversary, this collection feels particularly meaningful. Not because it's a look back, but because it reflects the relationships, shared values and spirit of collaboration that continue to drive us forward.
Or, as Bunny and Emma put it, “This didn't feel like a typical collaboration. It's the result of an ongoing relationship and a shared belief in how furniture should be made.”
We couldn't have said it better ourselves.
And it all started with a very tall ceiling in Cornwall.
Explore the full Turner Pocock x Lorfords Contemporary collection HERE