The Women Reshaping Furniture Design at King Living

Female designers remain dramatically underrepresented in industrial design. The numbers tell a sobering story that cuts across continents and specialties. A mere 5% of product and industrial designers in the UK identify as women. The United States fares marginally better at 19%. Australia reports just 11% of Creative Directors in graphic design are women—statistics that highlight a persistent imbalance.

King Living is a notable example of an Australian furniture company working to address this industry-wide pattern. The company has cultivated a team where several female designers lead significant projects and shape the brand’s direction, though, like most furniture manufacturers, it likely still has progress to make toward full gender parity.

Their work represents a shift in thinking about furniture. These designers prioritize adaptability, inclusivity, and longevity in ways that traditional approaches often overlook. The result? Pieces that respond to human diversity rather than forcing users to adapt to standardized forms.

Meet the Designers

Alinta Lim is a Senior Designer at King Living. Her award-winning creation, the Issho dining table, has become one of the brand’s most celebrated dining designs and exemplifies the company’s innovative approach.

The Issho collection, whose name means “together” in Japanese, began as what Lim describes as “a form exercise,” exploring how repetitions of a singular sculpted piece could create a harmonious pedestal volume. In her own words: “Issho started out purely as a form exercise, seeing how repetitions of this singular sculpted piece could come together harmoniously to create a full pedestal volume. Or how rotating them open completely changes the feel of the table with this dynamic spatial tension between the angled pieces.”

What emerged features curved pillars that can be arranged in open or closed configurations, allowing the table to adapt to different spaces while maintaining structural integrity. The table utilizes material technology previously unused at King Living, enabling the creation of curvaceous forms with strong visual impact.

The modular nature of the design led to an organic expansion beyond the initial concept. Lim explains: “We didn’t plan to have so many pieces, but with the base pieces being modular it made a lot of sense to reconfigure it into different sizes and table shapes. The coffee and side tables were perhaps the most surprising iterations. Each base set of legs is made of a single dining leg cut in half. They ended up being some of the most unique pieces, with the shapes being so organic and imperfect in a non-symmetrical sense.”

Lim has spoken candidly about gender disparity in design. She acknowledges: “I’ve been fortunate in my career to have had both female and male mentors who have been very encouraging and led me to believe that women can excel at all levels in Design. However, it would be remiss to say gender disparity in design teams isn’t noticeable.”

She advocates strongly for diversity in design leadership, stating: “Having more female designers in leading roles, and representation for all types of people, will foster more diverse and empathetic design thinking which benefits everyone.”

For more than a decade, Tanya Rechberger has been an integral part of the King Living creative team as Senior Design Development Manager. Her skilled hand extends to almost every product category, from indoor and outdoor dining to bedroom furniture and beyond. Sofa design, however, has become her signature strength, benefiting the younger in-house designers she mentors.

Several years ago, Rechberger led the high-stakes project to iteratively improve the best-selling Jasper modular sofa. “Jasper is an iconic furniture product in Australia, so it was an honour to work on its next iteration,” she says of the beloved piece originally designed by company founder David King in 2003. The challenge was substantial. “Our brief was to improve it, add extra features and make sure that everyone still loved it. It was a very complicated process with no room for teething issues, but I loved everything about that challenge, and the result was – and is – beautiful.”

Her knack for iterative improvement and problem-solving makes Rechberger—who holds a Bachelor of Industrial Design and a Master’s of Engineering Management from UTS in Sydney—ideal for her concurrent role as Continual Improvement Manager. “I want our products to be the best they can be. We are constantly looking at ways to improve design and manufacture of both current and past pieces,” she explains.

For Rechberger, functionality and aesthetics must work in harmony. “Comfort and quality are at the heart of the King Difference. It doesn’t matter how beautiful a piece of furniture is, if it’s not comfortable and it doesn’t last, then it’s just not going to work with your lifestyle. I could never have an uncomfortable sofa, no matter how good it looked!”

Once the only female in what has become a consciously diverse design team, she now holds the most senior designer position. Her responsibilities extend beyond design to collaborating with the engineering department on manufacturing upgrades, researching global trends, and attending key international trade shows.

The Milan Furniture Fair provides particular inspiration for her creative process. “The Milan Furniture Fair, which I love to attend each year, is amazing – so much inspiration and fresh design ideas, mixed with impeccable craftsmanship and design heritage all in one place,” she enthuses.

Design has been Rechberger’s passion since childhood. “Growing up, I was just one of those kids who liked making things. At first, I thought I wanted to be an architect…” Her path changed after discovering industrial design through her sibling’s university handbook. “Architecture is interesting, but there’s something special about the ability to physically interact with a smaller design product like furniture,” she notes.

This intimate connection between form and function drives her approach. “Making something both functional and beautiful is a difficult thing to get right – and the more you learn about furniture, the more you realise how important that functional aspect is, particularly in a country like Australia where people value laid-back looks and ease of use so much.”

Rechberger’s understanding of Australian aesthetic sensibilities informs her work. She describes this distinctive style as “a combination of relaxed, comfortable, pared back and unpretentious – but also elevated,” qualities embodied in every King design. This philosophy extends to her definition of “the King Difference”—that they “never just design ‘a product’, it’s a product plus so much more. An armchair is never just an armchair for us; we’re always searching for how it can be a better product and engage most effectively with your life.”

This commitment to excellence manifests in practical longevity. “Our products are designed for longevity from the get-go. If we are going to put our energy into making something, we want it to be as good as it can possibly be, and made so that it can change with the times and evolve with your life. Changeable furniture covers are just one example of that.”

The sustainability aspect of King Living’s approach is particularly important to Rechberger. “We want customers to keep loving their furniture for decades, not years. In fact, customers can bring back items to the service centre to have them fixed or updated. That’s the King Difference.”

Working from Sydney headquarters provides her with tangible evidence of this durability commitment. “We see the products that come into the servicing department. It’s amazing to see a 30-year-old sofa coming in and getting recovered. It’s indicative of the quality of King design.”

Her design philosophy balances contemporary trends with timeless appeal. “We are always on trend, but we also design each product to have timeless appeal. I think that approach really suits the ‘pared back’ Australian aesthetic.”

Another significant female-led design project at King Living comes from designer Zara Fong, who created the Aura Sofa. This piece exemplifies the intersection of functional furniture design and artistic expression.

Fong designed the Aura specifically for contemporary living needs, particularly for more compact spaces. Her vision transcended mere functionality—she wanted to create something that would serve as both a comfortable piece of furniture and an artistic statement.

“Aura was designed to respond to how we live today – there is a lot more compact space. We wanted Aura to be an art piece, but at the same time be comfortable and functional to suit modern day life,” Fong has explained.

The Aura Sofa gained additional artistic significance through a collaboration with Indigenous artist Lizzy Stageman. The sofa was covered with fabric featuring Stageman’s “Against The Elements” artwork, creating a unique piece that merged furniture design with Indigenous art.

These talented women represent the diverse creative voices shaping King Living’s innovative design philosophy. Their work demonstrates how different perspectives enhance furniture creation, resulting in pieces that balance striking aesthetics with practical functionality—designs that evolve with changing lifestyles while maintaining their essential character and quality.

Women in Leadership Beyond Design

Women at King Living have also played crucial roles in the company’s global expansion and business leadership, providing additional context for understanding the company’s approach to gender diversity.

Rose Bernard serves as Regional Retail Manager for the UK, leading a team of 18 across three King Living showrooms. Her decade-long career with the company has spanned three countries—Australia, Canada, and the UK—where she has been instrumental in establishing King Living’s international presence.

Ili Ibrahim has been with King Living since its first global showroom opened in Singapore in 2015. Now the Country Manager in Singapore, she has overseen the expansion of the showroom from 7,500 to 13,000 square feet and played a pivotal role in King Living’s expansion into Malaysia.

These leadership roles, while not directly in product design, help create an environment where female perspectives can influence the company’s direction and priorities.

Designing for Everyone

Universal design principles guide much of King Living’s work. This approach seeks to create products accessible to people regardless of age, size, ability, or other characteristics. The philosophy extends beyond accessibility features to embrace a fundamental rethinking of how furniture can adapt to human diversity.

The concept sounds simple in theory. It proves remarkably complex in execution.

According to company materials, the King Design Studio approaches comfort as subjective: “Comfort is such a subjective and personal thing. Modular furniture affords us the flexibility to adjust and reconfigure to suit our body ergonomics, lifestyles and home environments, all of which can change and evolve over time.”

This philosophy manifests in the company’s signature sofas. The Jasper and Delta collections feature adaptable components that can be reconfigured in numerous ways. Users can rearrange, add, or remove elements as their needs change over time, creating furniture that evolves alongside their lives.

The modularity serves practical purposes beyond immediate comfort. When moving to a larger home, a sofa can transform from a standard three-seater to a sectional. All fabric and leather covers are removable thanks to discreet Velcro fixings, making cleaning and replacement straightforward. Through the King-Care® aftercare service, most cover replacements can be done directly in the customer’s home, eliminating the need to send the sofa away for recovering.

This adaptability extends beyond seating to other furniture categories. The Issho table demonstrates how dining furniture can shift between configurations to accommodate different gatherings and spaces. The base can open or close to create different visual effects while maintaining structural stability.

The approach acknowledges a fundamental truth that traditional furniture design often overlooks: people live differently in ways that change over time and vary across cultures. Families gather in culturally specific ways. Bodies have different requirements for comfort. Spaces serve multiple functions.

By designing for this diversity from the outset, King Living creates furniture with broader appeal and longevity. Their pieces adapt to changing circumstances rather than becoming obsolete when needs or preferences evolve.

However, it’s worth noting that truly universal design remains an aspiration rather than a fully realized achievement. Even the most thoughtfully designed modular systems have limitations and may not accommodate all body types or abilities equally well. The cost of such adaptable systems can also place them out of reach for many consumers, creating an accessibility barrier based on economic factors.

Sustainability Through Adaptability

King Living’s approach to sustainability focuses heavily on product longevity. Their steel frame construction provides structural integrity that outlasts typical furniture, creating a durable foundation that can support multiple iterations of the same piece over decades.

This durability combines with modular design to extend useful life. When family circumstances shift, the furniture adapts through reconfiguration rather than disposal. When aesthetic preferences evolve, components can be reupholstered or rearranged to create essentially new pieces without manufacturing entirely new frames.

The environmental benefits can be significant when considered at scale. Furniture stays in homes rather than landfills. Resources go toward updating existing pieces rather than manufacturing entirely new ones with all the associated material and energy costs.

This philosophy represents a shift from consumption to conservation in the furniture industry. It challenges the fashion-driven cycles that render perfectly functional furniture “outdated” after arbitrary periods.

The approach requires balancing environmental considerations with performance metrics. Sustainable furniture must still be comfortable, beautiful, and functional—a balance the company has worked to refine.

While this approach to sustainability through durability and adaptability has merit, it represents just one aspect of environmental responsibility. A comprehensive sustainability assessment would also consider manufacturing processes, material sourcing, supply chain impacts, and end-of-life recycling programs. King Living, like most furniture manufacturers, likely faces ongoing challenges in addressing all these aspects of environmental impact.

The Power of Diverse Perspectives

King Living has emphasized the value of diverse perspectives in its company materials. Under the leadership of CEO David Woollcott, who has guided the company’s international expansion efforts, King Living has worked to incorporate diverse viewpoints into its design approach. Different perspectives create furniture that responds to a wide range of needs and preferences.

The benefits extend beyond gender diversity at the company. Cultural backgrounds, ages, physical abilities, and lived experiences all contribute to a richer understanding of how furniture functions in people’s lives and how it might better serve diverse needs.

This philosophy is reflected in the company’s collaborations with designers like Alinta Lim and Zara Fong, whose distinct approaches have resulted in innovative pieces like the Issho dining collection and the Aura Sofa. Their work demonstrates how diverse perspectives can translate into furniture that balances form, function, and adaptability.

Breaking Barriers

How might companies like King Living cultivate female design talent in an industry where women remain dramatically underrepresented?

Part of the approach involves recognizing that diverse teams can create better products. This recognition would translate into hiring practices and development opportunities that support female designers throughout their careers rather than treating diversity as a superficial metric.

Companies can provide visible role models for emerging designers. Women considering design careers need to see others succeeding in the field to envision their own potential paths. Environments where women occupy leadership positions and create award-winning designs can help increase visibility.

The impact extends beyond individual companies to influence the broader design landscape. As female designers gain recognition through awards and media coverage, they increase visibility for women in furniture design broadly. Their work demonstrates that this career path remains open to women despite historical barriers and persistent underrepresentation.

King Living’s examples of Lim leading the Issho collection and Fong creating the Aura Sofa provide tangible evidence of women succeeding in furniture design. These success stories can inspire other women to pursue careers in this field.

Has the journey been smooth? Hardly. The obstacles women face in design often force creative problem-solving approaches that can ultimately benefit the final products, but these challenges shouldn’t be romanticized. Systemic barriers to women’s advancement in design fields remain significant and require ongoing, deliberate efforts to address.

The industry still faces challenges in recruiting and retaining female designers, particularly in leadership positions. Educational pathways, hiring practices, work environments, and advancement opportunities all need examination to create truly inclusive design cultures. Individual success stories, while important, don’t necessarily indicate systemic change.

Design Through Collaboration

King Living’s design process appears to thrive on collaborative energy. Ideas flow between designers, engineers, and craftspeople in an iterative process that refines concepts through multiple disciplines and viewpoints.

For Lim’s Issho table, the process began with exploring form. According to her published comments, she investigated how repeated elements could create a harmonious whole. This exploration led to the dynamic tension between components that defines the table’s distinctive base while providing necessary structural support.

Material exploration and prototyping would typically follow the conceptual phase. Working directly with physical materials reveals possibilities and constraints that sketching alone can’t capture or address. This hands-on approach characterizes many furniture development processes, grounding creative concepts in physical reality through multiple iterations.

Throughout development, universal design considerations would ideally remain central to the evaluation process. Teams assess whether their designs will work for diverse users in various settings. This questioning can lead to innovations in adjustability and adaptability that might otherwise be overlooked in more conventional design processes.

The collaborative approach might extend beyond the design team to include user feedback. Companies can gather insights from people using their furniture in real homes under everyday conditions. These observations inform refinements to existing designs and inspire new directions that address previously unrecognized needs.

While this collaborative process has clear benefits, it also presents challenges. Balancing diverse perspectives while maintaining design coherence requires skilled leadership. The inclusion of more voices in the process doesn’t automatically translate to better outcomes without thoughtful facilitation and clear decision-making frameworks.

The Future of Furniture Design

What might King Living’s approach tell us about where furniture design could be heading in the coming years?

First, expect universality to become increasingly sophisticated. Designers will likely move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches to create systems that accommodate human diversity without calling attention to specific accommodations. Future furniture may embrace inclusive design principles through adaptability, emotional consideration, and user-centered approaches that recognize the variety of human needs and preferences.

Second, watch for increasingly fluid boundaries between living spaces. Homes continue to accommodate multiple functions within limited square footage. As spaces serve multiple purposes, furniture will follow suit. Rigid categorization may continue giving way to flexible solutions that adapt to different activities throughout the day rather than requiring dedicated rooms for each function.

Third, anticipate deeper integration of sustainability principles beyond material selection. This could include structural approaches and business models that extend product lifecycles. Durability and adaptability may become central environmental considerations, extending product lifecycles and reducing waste through designs that evolve rather than requiring replacement.

Fourth, we expect more cross-disciplinary collaborations, such as the partnership between Fong and artist Lizzy Stageman. These collaborations bring fresh perspectives and cultural elements into furniture design, creating pieces that function as both practical objects and artistic expressions.

Perhaps most significantly, diverse design teams will likely continue creating furniture that works better for more people. Including perspectives previously excluded from the design process could lead to innovations we can’t yet imagine. As barriers fall and perspectives broaden through increased representation, our living spaces might better reflect and support human diversity in all its forms.

King Living summarizes this philosophy with the statement: “A balance of perspectives leads to a balanced, universal design.”

The work of designers like Lim and Fong demonstrates this principle in action. Their furniture accommodates diverse needs while maintaining aesthetic coherence and functional excellence. Their designs suggest that expanding who shapes our material world could create more sustainable, inclusive, and human environments.

That’s a direction worth following, though the journey toward truly inclusive design practices and genuinely sustainable furniture production remains ongoing. No single company has “solved” these challenges, and meaningful progress will require continued effort, innovation, and critical self-assessment from the entire industry.

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