Robert Pattinson has revealed why he once slept on an “inflatable couch” for six months.
The 37-year-old actor addressed his previous living habits during an interview with Architectural Digest, published on 15 November. While opening up about the decision to design his own sofa – which is on display at antique store JF Chen in Los Angeles – he was asked to describe the worst couch he’s ever owned.
In response, he revealed that he slept on an inflatable piece of furniture for months, since he didn’t have an actual bed or couch in his own home.
“My least favorite could also be my most favourite,” Pattinson said. “There was a time when the only piece of furniture I had for about six months was an inflatable boat that would double as my couch, bed, and dining table. I loved it very much but it caused a lot of back problems.”
During the interview, he looked back on how he started building the couch in the first place, with AD noting that he’d fantasise “about a piece of furniture without a lot of hard lines”. Pattinson also specified that after he’s finished filming The Batman, which was released in 2022, that’s when he had the chance to draw the sketches of the couch.
“I started sketching pieces of furniture I thought would make people interact in a playful and informal way,” he explained. “They all had disproportionate, oversized elements that were quite fun. And in the process of making some models out of clay, I found that organic overlapping curves had a similar effect.”
The result of Pattinson’s creation was a white, u-shaped sofa, with two wide arms, each of which comes with a pink onyx drink tray. According to Nicole Gordon, who created the couch with the actor, he wanted the arms to showcase a “floating” effect.
“The most challenging technical part was engineering it so it could actually support people and wouldn’t topple over,” she said. “So we built this metal frame inside the carcass of the sofa that lets you put 350 pounds on each of those floating arms.”
Gordon also noted that once the couch was created, she urged Pattinson to sell it somewhere, which is what ultimately led him to Joel Chen, the owner of JF Chen. The small business owner also added that when he saw the couch, he was quite impressed by the actor’s work.
“I was in awe of the somewhat,” Chen said. “The sofa is entirely unique, and Rob’s strong sense of the angled shapes interpreted from everyday objects is incredible.”
Chen also encouraged Pattinson to create more furniture. “I’m just anxiously waiting for his next designed piece,” he said. “He certainly should not stop.”
Although Pattinson is relatively private about his life at home, his girlfriend of five years, Suki Waterhouse, recently opened up about living with him. During an appearance on the Driven Minds podcast in October, she described some of the stresses that came with moving into her parent’s place and out of her own.
“I’ve been having such a crushing weight of anxiety because I’ve moved. I wasn’t there for the move, so everything just got boxed up and sent,” she told host Gillian Sagansky, before adding that she hired a professional to help her organise her “collections of mess”.
The Daisy Jones & The Six star acknowledged that while moving in with her boyfriend was “a big move,” they were getting along well as roommates.
“It doesn’t feel like that much of a crazy thing. And I’m very lucky because he is so accepting of the mess and the chaos,” she said. He never says anything about it. He kind of thinks it’s like, charming. So I’m very lucky for that.”
