Do your cushions have the quirk factor?

Squiggles, combs, crowns, knots, daisies, butterflies, bows and hearts… A new wave of artists and designers are playing around with the idea of what a cushion could be. The results are wildly imaginative pieces that are simultaneously comforting and visually stimulating, or, as the late designer Rose Greenberg described her cushions: “Half home accessory, half entertaining friend.”

Greenberg, who died in 2020, was an early pioneer of the new style of cushion; her whimsical comb pillow quickly exploded in popularity. Her mother, Zoe Friedlander, says that Greenberg was inspired to create further “new and different shapes” – such as her faux-fur cow-print squiggle pillow, an oversized pink velvet comb with missing teeth and a long droopy heart in a dusky rose linen – having seen how “people interact with them”. 

You can make knots, then link them together, make braids… It gets your mind off other things”

Monique Chiari, the Melbourne-based designer behind Clumsy, creates her bouclé comb and doughnut pillows using offcuts sourced locally from designers and recycled water-bottle fibres, but her environmentally minded production practices don’t come at the expense of style and fun.

Cush Coma, another Melbourne-based brand, is similarly eco-friendly, producing cushions that are handmade locally using sustainable materials. Its catalogue of shapes and designs include individual flowers in cow print; “bouquets’’ of two joined flowers in chequerboard; interlinked denim cushions stamped with a bleached flower pattern; plus sundials, bows, nebulae and more.

Thinking and creating locally is also a big priority for Jeanette Reza, founder and creative director of Jiu Jie, the brand behind the original knot cushion. Reza first started making her pieces in 2016, before formally launching Jiu Jie in 2018. The pieces are made in New York’s East Village and offer a decidedly high-fashion look. 

Reza studied at the London College of Fashion and then, before the pandemic, was working at an interior design studio. “I’ve always been interested in beautiful things and fabrics,” she says. “I think you can tell when you see my products that they come more from an artistic and fashion background, rather than traditional home decor.”

A big part of the experience is the therapeutic element. “The cushion is a long tubular shape, so you can make knots, then link them together,” Reza explains. “You can make braids if you have three. It gets your mind off other things. It’s a transitional object, like when a child holds a teddy bear that makes them feel safe. The cushions are meant to inspire something like this.”