PHOTOS: Dook | PRODUCTION: Annemarie Meintjes, Klara van Wyngaarden | WORDS: Sarah Buitendach
Meet Darren Zidel – style spy, entrepreneur and importer of the hottest seats in town.
Bean bags: dodgy remnants of the ’70s or tacky, uncomfortable lumo-green lumps you see by the roadside?
Either way, they don’t sound like the sort of thing you’d find in any style-minded person’s home. Catapult this less-than-desirable form of seating into the 21st century with a much needed design update and the result is the Puffla.
So what makes the Puffla different? Apart from the fact that they come in different sizes and out-of-the-ordinary shapes (there’s even one that looks like a horseshoe) and are available in a combination of 16 bright colours, Pufflas have an outer covering made of cotton and spandex, and are filled with smaller, better quality beads than your average bean bag.
What this means is that you can’t feel the stuffing when you sit on a Puffla (so no more ‘Princess and the Pea’ syndrome), and when you hop off, your Puffla will expand to its original shape. Pile them up, use the small ones as head cushions, sit on them or even consider the larger versions as day beds for kids – they really are that comfortable.
Our local Puffla guy is Darren Zidel, who has the enviable job of travelling around the world sourcing great stuff. He spotted the Puffla concept while in the Middle East and was so enthralled by this alternative seating solution that he now imports the outer layer and has them stuffed locally.
They’re an excellent mobile-seating option for the home, but Darren envisages another brilliant use for them too. ‘Because they’re so easily transportable,’ he says, ‘they’re the perfect seating solution for the 2010 Soccer World Cup to counter those hard stadium seats.’
Darren Zidel: 011 783 1209, 082 412 1843, www.puffla.co.za
