An accent chair provides extra seating for reading or quiet time in the home or office areas with more available space. Interior designers may use such a chair to create an attractive focal point in a room that may look dull without it. This furniture piece can also be a place for conversations, but those don’t flow naturally, so you need quirky elements that can make you think or go ‘wow’ to begin and easily create such a mood. It would help if you had something like a chair that makes you stop and think before you sit.

Designer: Demeter Fogarasi

Finding the perfect accent chair can be a little challenging. Even with all the options available in furniture stores today, there aren’t many unique and appealing pieces that would catch your guest’s attention. There are a few like those from designer Demeter Fogarasi who thinks furniture can be like “jewels assigning life to spaces,” and can build an atmosphere for people to interact and discuss. His previous work, the Pinsofa, made an impression with striking looks like a giant pincushion, and the Cross Chair and Stool can do that as well, offering life to a corner.

Like the other pieces in the collection, the Cross Chair and Stool series blurs the line between functionality and art. It stirs creative imagination and pleasant emotions by using scale manipulation to make the design amusing and playful. The new pair of seats shows a larger-than-life version of a cross (x) which can make you have fun with it—like a shrinking Alice in Wonderland.

The chair and the stool use an X-shaped seat as their base, with cushioning covered in gray wool fabric. The only difference is that the chair also has an X-shaped backrest while the stool is made up of a single “X” only for the seat. Adding support to the seats and keeping them elevated above the ground are four slanted oak legs positioned underneath each point of the X. The wood material offers a neutral tone and warmth to the design, adding a solid structure and a clean look. The sight of the chair and stool will make you ask what spot the X marks.

The fabric-upholstered Cross Chair and Stool appear cozy and comfortable because of the foam padding. The modern form allows anyone to enjoy being imaginative as the simple yet quirky look will have you guessing what would look great with either piece. We’re thinking of a donut pillow to complete a makeshift furniture tic-tac-toe game. The Cross Collection series may be the missing piece in the equation—the equation of a visually pleasing room.