Philippe Nigro’s Phileas seating, designed for Ligne Roset, both challenges and surprises: he has managed the impressive feat of achieving cutting edge modernity, imbuing his creation with real personality and a strong visual identity close to the ‘never-before-seen’, whilst at the same time awakening a cluster of nostalgic reminiscences which anchor it in reassuring historical continuity, like a real multifaceted Proust madeleine. Its vertical quilting recalls the upholstery of 1950s automobile seats, banquettes from the mythical Orient Express, the hushed surroundings of English gentlemen’s clubs, the novels of Agatha Christie and Jules Verne, the balloons of the Montgolfier brothers…inviting one on a real motionless journey through time.