Los Angeles-based design company LAUN creates furniture that brings joy to today’s homes, whether you’re furnishing a garden area or a living room. The studio’s durable modern pieces — lounge chairs, side tables, patio furniture and more — are frequently framed in anodized aluminum or powder-coated stainless steel and feature fun designs that bring a bit of glitz and glamour to today’s exterior spaces as well as to interiors.
LAUN was founded in 2018 by friends Molly Purnell and Rachel Bullock. Establishing a studio served as the ideal merging of their shared backgrounds in design, metalworking and architecture. Both hold master’s degrees in the latter from the University of Texas at Austin, and both founders manage projects for LAUN’s furniture-focused Object line as well as the firm's Studio arm, which is focused on architecture and interior design.
Bullock told Introspective that the idea to start a company came to them at a mutual friend's thirtieth-birthday pool party. As they surveyed the outdoor furniture, they realized there weren't as many options as for interiors. "We thought people should have pieces that are as appealing for outside as they have for inside," Bullock explained.
The pair got to work and taught themselves to weld. Among their first creations were the powder-coated stainless-steel DeMille chair and the colorful terrazzo Confetti table, both just as suitable for the outside and the inside. They debuted the chair and the table at the 2018 Sight Unseen Offsite fair.
Speaking to Sight Unseen magazine in 2020, Purnell and Bullock noted that much of the inspiration for their work comes from the natural and architectural sights of California (itself a hub of modernist outdoor furniture design in the postwar era) — not only flora and fauna but also the exciting and eclectic buildings, from storybook cottages to Moorish palaces.
The growing company has also brought on Austin-based architect Meegan Beddoe as a partner of LAUN Studio. The three women now at the helm remain committed to offering chic and sturdy furniture to enhance interior and exterior spaces.
On 1stDibs, find LAUN seating, tables and garden furniture.
Customizable Powdercoated Aluminum Indoor/Outdoor Curved Sofa by Laun
By Molly Purnell, LAUN, Rachel Bullock
Located in Brooklyn, NY
In the Ribbon outdoor bench, layered aluminum tubes stack together to form an accordian-like surface that's solid on the straighter ends and semi-solid in the curved middle. The benc...
Aluminum
Indoor/Outdoor Steel-Framed DeMille Sofa in Modern Regency Style by Laun
By LAUN
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Powder coated stainless steel sofa frame with removable cushions upholstered in an outdoor fabric, this sofa looks great inside or out. The green frame is fully welded and has a perf...
Stainless Steel
$4,112
H 30.32 in W 72.45 in D 42.13 in
Howard & Sons Style Mulberry Designer Sofa Rare Made in Feather Filled
By Mulberry, Howard & Sons Ltd
Located in Pulborough, GB
We are delighted to offer for sale this Stunning Rare Mulberry home designer sofa. The colour over the years has faded slightly in some areas. However...
Fabric
Suelo Modern Outdoor Sofa
By Bertu Furniture
Located in Oak Harbor, OH
This Suelo® modern outdoor sofa is beautifully constructed from solid wood in Ohio, USA. This sofa's silhouette is simple, modern, and sleek with comfortable back and seat cushions. ...
Mahogany
$4,750
H 31.25 in W 76.75 in D 31 in
Modern Danish 1950s Sofa with Stained Birch Frame by Frits Henningsen
By Frits Henningsen
Located in Bridgeport, CT
Frits Henningsen is famous for his Classic sofa designs most of which were produced between 1935 and late 1940s. This sofa is supposedly one of his later designs a with sharper and m...
Wool, Rosewood
Mid-Century Modern Peter Hvidt Style Sofa
By Peter Hvidt
Located in Brooklyn, NY
This unique midcentury sofa features stylish curved armrests, original studded upholstery, and a unique finish. Please confirm item location (NY or ...
Upholstery
Fine Custom French Style Sofa
Located in Bridgeport, CT
From Apropos, New York City. A Louis XV style tub form sofa with a carved walnut frame. The curved crest rail with a carved palmette as the crest. Scrolled arm ends and short carved cabriole legs with floral motifs in front, and curved square legs in back. Upholstered overall in a pale green diamond...
Fabric, Wood
$6,612
H 31.5 in W 80.32 in D 35.44 in
Gio Ponti Style Mid-Century Modern Italian Sofa for Isa Bergamo, 50s
By Casa e Giardino, Gio Ponti
Located in Puglia, Puglia
Sofa Collection designed in the style of Gio Ponti for the manufacturing company Isa Bergamo in the late 1950s. The armchairs have been restored and the upholstery has been redone in...
Bouclé, Beech
$8,000
H 28 in W 79 in D 33 in
Flemming Lassen Style, Danish Mid-Century Modern, Curved Sofa, Boucle, 1940s
By Flemming Lassen
Located in Manhasset, NY
Flemming Lassen Style, Danish Cabinetmaker, Mid-Century Modern, Curved Sofa, Beige Boucle, 1940s Beautifly organic shaped Danish sofa similar to works by Flemming Lassen. This sofa ...
Bouclé
Scandinavian Modern Sofa or Settee in Red Leather and Wood
Located in Waalwijk, NL
Sofa or settee, leather, wood, Scandinavia, 1950s A beautifully sculpted sofa in the style of Danish designer Arne Vodder. The high back is slightly curved and runs smoothly over in...
Leather, Wood
Mid-Century Modern Two-Seater Sofa by Jens Risom, Walnut Frame, 1955
By Jens Risom
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
A small, vintage Mid-Century Modern American two seater sofa or settee with four pillows, designed and produced by Jens Risom Design, Model U-151, in good condition. The seat, back rest of the divano is slightly inclinated with a button-tufted back and two straight arms, supported by a hand crafted Walnut frame, standing of four small curved wooden feet. Newly upholstered in an orange velvet. Wear consistent with age and use, circa 1955, New York, United States. Seat: 18.5" H x 44.5" W x 19.5" D Pillows: 20" H x 20" W x 7" D Jens Risom was a Danish, American furniture designer born in 1916, in Copenhagen, Denmark and passed away in 2016, in New Canaan, United States. He finished his apprenticeship as a designer at the Copenhagen School...
Fabric, Upholstery, Velvet, Walnut
$3,280
H 32.29 in W 63.78 in D 32.29 in
Svante Skogh, Freestanding Sofa in Floral Fabric, Swedish Modern, 1940s
By AB Förenade Möbelfabrikerna Linköping, Svante Skogh
Located in Odense, DK
A refined and expressive Swedish sofa designed by Svante Skogh for Förenade Möbler, Linköping, mid-20th century. This elegant piece features upholstered cushions paired with a staine...
Fabric, Textile, Upholstery, Wood, Beech
$4,950
H 26 in W 79 in D 31 in
Mid-Century Modern Curved Sofa / Settee, Adrian Pearsall Style, Three-Seater
By Adrian Pearsall
Located in Manhasset, NY
Mid-Century Modern Curved Sofa / Settee, Adrian Pearsall Style, Three-Seater Curvaceous three seater mid-century modern sofa in the manner of American designer, Adrian Pearsall. Ha...
Fabric, Wood
$10,300 / item
H 33.86 in W 137.8 in D 64.97 in
Mid-Century Modern curved oak handmade Niemeyer II round sofa by InsidherLand
By Joana Santos Barbosa, InsidherLand
Located in Maia, Porto
The Niemeyer II round sofa is named after the Brazilian Architect Oscar Niemeyer whose Architecture was spread like sculptural poetry in the His...
Oak, Fabric, Wood