Face Me

A space takes shape much like a smile—through its contours, its defining gestures. Then there’s what anchors it, like a pair of eyes, or a nose: a table, a rug, a lamp that casts a diffused glow over everything. A sofa, though, is the room’s expression, its longest curve, arguably the most important. It is where bodies sink and conversations begin. 

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The Smile Sofa, a recent addition to Giancarlo Valle’s studio collection, embodies this with its smooth arc that settles into the space rather than overtaking it, moving away from clinical precision toward something more human. The sofa’s singular, tan seat curls at the edges. From the front, it reads as a continuous gesture, its structured maple base extending into wide, flush armrests. From the back, it becomes almost monolithic—Valle’s signature interplay of contrast and continuity. 

Rather than looking outward for influence, the designer and his wife, Jane Keltner de Valle, with whom he helms the studio, often turn to their archives for inspiration. Where recent trends have prioritized speed and novelty, their practice puts atmosphere first. Every element is assessed in relation to the whole, with an emphasis on slowing down. “I often revisit past ideas and find ways to evolve and edit them forward,” Valle explains. “I believe that what you do has to be built on what came before.” It’s a deliberate departure from the past decade’s aesthetic that was better suited to a well-kept gallery than a home, a fixation on interiors that favor concept over feeling, with rigid lines, white-on-white, and no excess.

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But things are shifting. You see it in the embrace of low-slung modular sofas, the rise of biomorphic seating, and the soft, irregular edges of contemporary Scandinavian design. Valle’s geometry evolves in tandem, trading severity for a studied looseness, where lines feel intuitive rather than imposed. Whereas minimalism often flattens, his work moves with a quieter confidence, creating spaces that are as considered as they are inviting.

Valle traces the sofa’s origins back to an earlier chair design. “We wanted to see what the shapes could be in the form of a large piece,” he elaborates. “It’s ideal in a space to meet—a lounge or an entry,” he adds, noting how its color palette of warm browns was conceived to be easy on the eyes, just like its frame.

The Smile Sofa suggests a more generous way of making, one that considers how a piece lives and how it earns its place over time. The kind of piece that people might one day scour auction houses for. Thankfully for now, you won’t have to fight a Milanese collector for it on 1stDibs.

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Giancarlo Valle’s Smile Sofa is now available at Casa Valle at 50 Lispenard St, New York, NY 10013.