At first glance, the Miami Sofa and Chair Range by Morgan Furniture, U.K. may provoke a bit of wistful deja vu. And while I’d like to think that’s because the line is reminiscent of such 3rings classics as Bjorn Meir’s Shift and Anna Hart’s Slide, a more plausible explanation is designer Katerina Zachariades’ spot-on sense of revivalist minimalism.

Miami Sofa and Chair Range. Designed by Katerina Zachariades. Manufactured by by Morgan Furniture, UK.

Zachariades, Design Director for Morgan, seems to concur with the historical wisdom of luminaries like Mies Van Der Rohe and Josef Hoffman, both of whom embraced the principle of structural aesthetics, or a staunch devotion to “the truth of the materials and functionalism.” I’m thinking specifically of Hoffman’s Kubus 3 Seater (1927) and Van Der Rohe’s Barcelona Chair (1929), a pair of iconic pieces that reflect the era’s preoccupation with geometric forms and minimal adornment.

But Zachariades’ Miami line is no mere mimic of old glories. Comprised of a trio of one, two, and three seaters, the Miami pieces are perched atop shortish wooden legs and solid beech frames bent into an elegant flare at either end, then wrapped in any number of multitudinous combinations: “any contract fabric or leather and a choice of 10 standard polishes or stained to pattern” (with or without button detail). The great variety stems from the demands of the marketplace, for while Morgan is happy to cater to residential clients, they’re primarily contract manufacturers for casinos, restaurants, bars, hospitals, cruise ships, and corporations. This means their furnishings must meet the often disparate preferences of John Q. Public, and creating a compelling aesthetic with this kind of broad appeal is a nifty trick indeed.

In this regard, the Miami line shall suffice. Each piece evokes the wisdom of the Bauhaus yet also reflects a contemporary aesthetic. With their exceedingly slim profiles, the Miami Sofa and Chairs are a great choice for long, narrow, or otherwise difficult spaces; they’re ideal for layouts that don’t block traffic flow-an imperative for commercial spaces as well as your very own sometime-problematic environs. And Morgan prides itself on its environmental policies-minimizing production waste, re-using and recycling whenver possible, and using suppliers of low-VOC stains and finishes, they also espouse an open-forum philosophy for decreasing environmental impact. So if you desire a chair, loveseat, or sofa that reminds you of the past without feeling like it’s stuck there, the Miami Line is for you.