The ODD Journal | Chelsea Flower Show 2025

Chelsea Flower Show

For ODD's first appearance in two decades at Chelsea Flower Show, we worked with designer Sean A. Pritchard on a stand that celebrated the centenary of the swinging sofa.

The upholstered swinging sofa has been a distinctive part of British garden culture since the 1920s, when the original designs first appeared across the country. They soon became widely adored for their shade-and-shelter-giving qualities, their unique comfort and the opportunity they presented for decorative expression.

ODD was founded to keep alive this uniquely British piece of garden furniture, our makers picking up the craft long after the original manufacturers had ceased theirs.

Tasked with finding a suitably special way to celebrate this landmark birthday at RHS Chelsea, Sean’s imagination was sparked by a visit to Sezincote where he discovered The Tent Room. The romance and historical allusions of a tent seemed a fitting way to display ODD’s swinging sofa, itself a beloved garden structure.

The stand took shape as The ODD Pavilion, transformed into an opulent tent, with the walls and ceiling hung with Baracca Indigo by Emma Grant for ODD.

The fabric, Baracca, is perfectly suited for its role, having been inspired by a 18th Century Portuguese threaded metal tent structure. The indigo hues of the fabric carry the allure of ancient, faraway lands, echoed in the picture frames and bench, coated in Kinwarton Blue by Edward Bulmer Natural Paint

Displayed on the walls is the full collection of fabrics by Emma Grant for ODD, as well as ODD’s own collection, hung with studs from Beata Heuman. A specially-commissioned auricula theatre houses the hand-turned finials and other custom trimmings that finish each rocker. A Little Rocker provides the centrepiece, lit by The Bothy Lantern by Studio Ham suspended overhead, with a Francesca Gentilli rug from the Atlas Mountains underfoot. Letterpress posters printed on a traditional press from 1879 add depth and colour to the story.

Sean's planting was key to anchoring the pavilion design, with a lush woodland scheme including foxgloves and ferns. The planting aims to root the rocker in its natural habitat – outside in the garden – and, like the overall design, gives visitors a sense of the magic and majesty that rockers have brought to gardens for the past century.