Interior Designer Roman Plyus Sheds Light On His Emotive Furniture Pieces

Expressing as do people, Roman Plyus’ emotive furniture pieces are designed to evoke comfort, at a time when it’s most needed, forming bonds and telling stories through shape, form and a silent dialogue

At a time when human emotions are suppressed due to social distancing which has become the new norm, interior design has changed the way we think about our personal space and everything that it holds.

One such designer tapping in on this emotive aesthetic is Roman Plyus who sees furniture as art, taking inspiration from not just nature and its surroundings, but also from dreams and visions encountered during meditation.

The Lovers sofa designed by Roman Plyus depicts connection between two lonely beings who desire intimacy

“The process of forming an idea can happen at any time and takes no more than five minutes, after which I can clearly see what will happen,” says Roman, whose eclectic collections go beyond form, narrative and geometry.

From conceiving an idea in five minutes to breathing life into it for a few hours, the journey isn’t complete until five months later when a prototype is finally presented, only to become part of a limitless collection.

“We have a chair inspired by a vintage TV from the 60s and a whole series inspired by human emotions,” he shares.

“We also have a collection dedicated to space and inspired by the films of Ridley Scott like Prometheus and Alien: Covenant,” says the Russia-born furniture designer and interior-architect who is a resident at the ‘Heritage’ Gallery in Russia.

Mushroom floor lamp

Rewriting the art of furniture and design through emotions and an unspoken dialogue, Roman presents several collections that are constantly updated over the years.

For example, he created the first pieces of the Alien collection last spring and this year, he found fresh inspiration to enhance it. According to him, design has everything to do with evolution and research and is a form of therapy for the body and soul. 

This is evident in the fascinating pieces like the Dancing Chandelier, inspired by Henri Matisse’s La Danse (1910), or the Unity collection which reflects the impact of the global lockdown, social distancing, the lack of human connection and communication.

Little Sofya from the Hug Collection

Roman says, “The philosophy of sensual design is very close to me. When the consumer can interact with objects not only at the tactile and visual level, but also receive some kind of emotional charge embedded in the object by the design.”

Having worked as a computer graphic artist, jewellery and souvenir designer, as well as an interior designer, Roman relies on his multifarious ability when designing furniture to find beauty, truth and harmony in comparison.

“I make about 20-30 comparisons, changing some parts of the design and comparing them with previous versions,” he explains.

The Butterfly chair is inspired by using mountains as a defence against external threats

In adding his own thoughts and emotions to it all, the process of creating forms which trigger responses in the archicortex of the brain reveals a new design approach which the designer describes as, “The caring design.”

It is through this approach that a piece of furniture evokes a response from the pleasure centre of the brain, bypassing the area responsible for thought and rationale and initiating a silent dialogue between the viewer and their emotion; the place, where according to Roman, real happiness is found.  ■ @roman.plyus

Images courtesy of the designer

From the Spring 2021 issue of Harper’s Bazaar Interiors