With comedy specials exploring the layered personalities of different shapes and colors, it was only a matter of time before Julio Torres unveiled a furniture line.
Rendered in mixed hardwood inlay, the illustrations adorning the Personal Items table create a dreamlike quality
In All Other Passports, a new collaboration with sustainable furniture brand Sabai, the comic’s surrealist whimsy enlivens a new medium in homage not only to New York but also to the immigrants who enrich it. Harry Roseman’s wispy “Curtain Wall” sculpture, which heralds foreign arrivals at John F. Kennedy International Airport, was a key muse for Torres and Sabai cofounder and CEO Phantila Phataraprasit. “We both have very distinct memories of it,” Torres says. “It’s an image that, for some reason, has stayed with us. It’s kind of funny to have a space like an airport inspire something that is so warm and playful, but I think that speaks to a lot of the work I do.”
Roseman’s sculpture is reimagined as a carved wooden curtain installed upon the reflective mirror of the collection’s folding screen. “We both felt that a folding screen was something that was really hard to find—and something we would want to have in our homes,” says Phataraprasit. “The concept of the folding screen with the curtains was born, and then the concept folded into the table and floor pillows.”
Dreamlike symbols of urban ephemera abound upon the face of the side table in a “vortex of clutter,” as Torres puts it, channeling apartment surfaces littered with keys, coins, and other quotidian minutiae. Accented with surrealist charms, oversized floor pillows wrapped in natural hemp and finished with contrast stitching, grommets, and a strap for easy transport embody the capsule’s mission to imbue levity and comfort. “It speaks to the kind of lives that people who are drawn to this furniture live,” Torres says. “You gather around the living room and there’s no more seating available for people and it’s very casual. It’s very relaxed.”
The low-slung, generously proportioned Landing daybed boasts a stainless-steel arched base that is topped with slim pillows
The Landing daybed serves as the centerpiece of All Other Passports. Lined with arches reminiscent of New York architectural motifs, a stainless steel base uplifts an inviting bed, which is available in six pastel upholstery options spanning hemp blends and velvets. Filled with recycled fibers sourced from post-consumer plastic bottles, a pair of unfixed bolsters round out the piece, beckoning users to reconfigure the shape of the platform and their bodies accordingly.
Such versatility is essential for designs conceived to redefine domesticity with humor as well as dignity. Just like immigration, interiors can be political. But for Torres, they’re also personal. “It feels like I’m designing for my dream childhood loft,” he says of his pieces. “They definitely have personalities, but they can get along with a lot of things.”
This article originally appeared in HD’s August 2026 issue.