Three sofas. Three Red Dot Design Awards. One Australian furniture company proving that modularity doesn’t mean compromising on comfort or style. King Living just swept the 2025 Red Dot Design Awards with their King Cinema Recliner, Haven Sofa, and 1978 High Back Sofa, each addressing different aspects of how we actually live in our homes today.
“These designs are a reflection of how people live today,” explains David King, founder of King Living. His point hits differently when you consider that most furniture companies still design for static living rooms that never change. King Living’s triple win suggests the Red Dot jury recognizes something shifting in our relationship with furniture.
The Haven Sofa’s Hidden Flex Mechanisms Change Everything
Cloud-like comfort sounds like marketing fluff until you understand what King Living built into the Haven Sofa. Hidden flex mechanisms let users transition the backrests from low profile to high back positions. Each armrest corner adjusts with a simple motion. No tools, no complicated instructions, just furniture that adapts as quickly as your plans change.
The modular design means more than just moving pieces around. Haven’s system allows complete reconfiguration to fit any space, whether that’s a studio apartment this year or a suburban home next year. Ultra-soft seat cushions deliver on the comfort promise while the flexibility handles the practical reality of modern living.
TouchGlide® Technology Makes the King Cinema Recliner Feel Like the Future
State-of-the-art gets thrown around too often in furniture descriptions. The King Cinema Recliner earns it with optional TouchGlide® control that adjusts headrest and footrest positions with a swipe. This isn’t your grandfather’s lever-operated recliner with mechanical groans and jerky movements.
But here’s where it gets interesting. King Living designed the Cinema Recliner to accept accessories like lights, charging tables, speaker brackets, and media consoles. Personal comfort becomes personalized command center. The seamless combination of advanced technology and superior comfort, as the press release notes, takes reclining beyond relaxation into productivity.
1978 High Back Sofa: When Heritage Design Meets Modern Flexibility
Building on their 1977 Sofa legacy (which reimagined an original 1970s King Living design), the 1978 High Back introduces something crucial: proper support for full-body relaxation. That high back isn’t just aesthetic; it’s acknowledgment that sofas serve as workspaces, reading nooks, and entertainment centers, not just conversation pieces.
Individual modules reconfigure to suit evolving lifestyles. Removable armrests customize each configuration. Machine-washable covers handle real life while offering seasonal style changes. This isn’t nostalgia; it’s evolution.
The 1978 High Back also earned an iF Design Award in 2025, alongside the Plateau Outdoor Sofa, adding to King Living’s growing collection of international recognition.
Why These Awards Signal Something Bigger
“These international awards come at a time of exciting growth,” notes David King. “As we expand our global footprint, it’s rewarding to see our design philosophy continue to resonate across continents.” That philosophy centers on one core idea: furniture should evolve with its users.
The Red Dot Design Award recognizes products demonstrating excellence in innovation, functionality, and aesthetic form. For King Living, winning three in one year validates their approach to modularity and customization. “We have incorporated modularity and customization options to enable each design to evolve with its user as their lifestyle changes over the years. Our sofas are crafted to last a lifetime,” King explains.
Both the Haven Sofa and 1978 High Back Sofa will showcase at the prestigious Red Dot Museum in Essen, home to the world’s largest exhibition of contemporary design. Among more than 2,000 exhibits, these pieces will represent a distinctly Australian take on adaptive living.
The Talent Behind the Triple Win
“Winning three Red Dot Awards in one year is a true honor,” King adds. “It speaks volumes about the talent and dedication of our in-house design team, and our vision to create furniture that is both aesthetically beautiful and built to last.”
That in-house team, supported by dedicated engineers within state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, maintains complete control over all aspects of design and manufacturing. This vertical integration allows King Living to ensure their “reputation built on steel” translates into furniture that actually delivers on longevity promises.
Since 1977, King Living has expanded from Sydney to operate in New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Five decades of design innovation culminate in these awards, but they also point toward furniture’s future.
What This Means for Modern Living
These three Red Dot winners share DNA beyond their Australian origin. Each addresses how our relationship with furniture has fundamentally changed. We don’t just sit anymore; we work, play, create, and connect from our sofas. Static furniture for static lives makes no sense when everything else adapts to our needs.
King Living’s approach suggests furniture success now measures itself in decades of use across multiple life stages, not just initial visual impact. When a sofa can transform from bachelor pad centerpiece to family gathering spot to empty nester reading nook, it stops being furniture and becomes infrastructure for living.
As King Living celebrates over five decades of design innovation, these international accolades underscore the brand’s influence in shaping the future of design-led living. The question becomes: what other furniture categories are ready for this evolution? Because if King Living’s triple Red Dot win proves anything, it’s that the future of furniture lies not in smart home integration or radical aesthetics, but in understanding how people actually live and designing for that reality.
