Expanding on the brand’s new contemporary handwriting, sofa.com has launched three new statement seating designs as part of their latest collection. Each piece is handmade-to-order in just 4-6 weeks and can be upholstered in over 75 different fabrics to perfectly suit any residential or commercial project.
The range puts a spotlight on minimalist modern shapes and sleek lines ideal for contemporary interiors design projects.
Oswald and Chester join the range as the two hero designs for the season boasting clean lines and Scandi-inspired shapes, combining elements of contemporary style with the same trusted comfort the brand is so celebrated for. Curvilinear detailing and sleek tapered legs lend a feminine, avant-garde allure to Edie creating an elegant, fashion-forward shape.
With Chester available as armchair or various sized sofa, Oswald as the all-encompassing corner option, and Edie as the cocktail chair of choice, the brand is introducing modern marvels for varying lifestyles and for the ever-evolving interiors.
Each new design is available in different fabrics and colours – from durable cottons, to lavish velvets and luxurious leathers. This ensures each hand-crafted sofa.com upholstered design is bespoke based on your own requirements, whether specifying seating for a residential, hospitality or commercial property. With the entire range also available in COM, there is no compromise necessary to create the perfect custom design.
The trade team at sofa.com is on-hand to assist with any queries – please visit www.sofa.com/trade for more information.
About sofa.com
Passionate about outstanding interiors, sofa.com offers a diverse and design led collection of made-to-order sofas, armchairs, beds, footstools and home accessories. With an extensive range of styles and over 100 fabrics to choose from, as well as the option to upholster in your own fabric, the customisable nature of sofa.com’s products make each piece easily adaptable to any interior style – perfect for interior designers and specifiers looking for stand-out pieces for upcoming projects.
If you’d like to feature your product news here, get in touch to find out more.
If you’d like to become SBID Accredited, click here for more information.
My current job is Creative Director at Pia Design – my own design studio. Our studio is currently myself and two full time interior designers. I oversee all the projects and present designs to our clients and set the creative direction of each project – my team are super talented at creating 3D visuals and detailed specification documents to deliver our ideas to the client.
I had quite an academic start to my education and career – I completed the International Baccalaureate and then did a Foundation course in Art & Design and then a degree in Interior Architecture at Kingston University. I knew from my teens that I wanted to be an interior designer – my family moved country every two years throughout my childhood so I quickly learnt the importance of ‘making a house a home’. I was also interested in psychology, and interior design allows me to combine my creative passion with my interest in understanding people. One of my favourite parts of the project is interpreting the brief and developing a design tailored to the client’s taste.
My days can be varied but typically I start the day with a team call to review project progress and our to-do lists for the day. I’ll then catch up on my emails and urgent payments / invoices before heading out to site visits – sometimes I have two or even three site visits in a row. Then it’s back to the studio to review the work of my design team from the day, catching up on more emails, and occasionally I’ll have evening calls with my clients who are in different time zones or too busy to speak during the day time. After dinner, I’ll usually sit down with my iPad and browse Instagram or Pinterest or read magazines for an hour or two, saving inspiration ideas for our current projects.
I love the conceptual part of the project the most – working out who our client is and what they like, often reading between the lines or drawing inspiration from what they already own or from their artwork. It’s great to see their reactions to the initial concepts and then build the designs up from there – the most rewarding part is of course seeing the finished result of our designs and a happy client!
We have just completed a really exciting commission on a Royal Estate and are now moving onto a number of new projects in central London. We are also getting to the fit out stage on one of our large new-build projects in St Albans, on which we have been working on for nearly three years now. We went to see it last week and the Dinesen flooring had been laid and the bespoke staircase was being installed – it’s going to be a stunning house!
Keeping all the plates spinning! We typically have between 10-15 projects at any one time, all at various stages, and we take on project coordination for many of our projects as well… so a lot of what we do is organising and keeping on top of timelines to make sure projects run efficiently and on time. There can be a lot of unknowns during the building works stage so often we have to be quick to rethink ideas and find solutions on the spot if things don’t pan out how we intended on site.
That it’s about 20% design and 80% admin and organising! I think in my early years I was ignorant to the amount of technical knowledge that a designer has to build up – I still learn something new from every project. The pretty design part of the job is barely a quarter of the job, the rest is knowing how to implement it correctly and seeing it through to reality.
Trust your intuition and knowledge, don’t be discouraged by disagreements and stand up for yourself! There are a lot of big egos in this industry and it’s important to believe in your vision and sometimes you have to stand your ground to see your vision through.
We recently worked on the redecoration of a large country manor in the North Downs which was in dire need of updating. The client owned a lot of heirloom furniture pieces that they wanted to bring back to life and was excited to work with us from a sustainability perspective. We were careful not to rip out anything that was still in good condition, choosing instead to repair, reupholster and rejuvenate everything from existing joinery to the furniture. The client was so happy when she saw her home of many years and inherited furniture pieces lovingly restored that she cried tears of joy.
Construction is one of the most polluting industries in the world and interior design is unfortunately a guilty party to the waste created. I think the industry needs to adapt and change quickly to focus on more sustainable ways to refurbish and I believe that designers are not only responsible for implementing this change but that we have the power to set the direction of change by helping our clients make more planet-friendly decisions during their renovation project.
I am a huge admirer of the Finnish Architect / Designer Joanna Laajisto – I love the way her designs are a contemporary take on classic Scandinavian design and her focus on sustainability in her material selection. I am also in awe of Sophie Asbhy and how she has built a successful brand and business, as well as her involvement in setting up the United in Design initiative.
I decided to join the SBID to feel a sense of community within the interiors world and to be involved and connected with new suppliers and trade events. It’s also really important for the types of clients that we work with that we can demonstrate a high level of professionalism, which being a member of the SBID’s international community provides.
Questions answered by Pia Pelkonen, Founder and Creative Director, Pia Design.
This week’s instalment of the Project of the Week series features a minimal luxury hotel suite design by 2022 SBID Awards Finalist, LW Design.
SBID Awards Category: Hotel Bedroom & Suites Design
Practice: LW Design
Project: The Dubai EDITION
Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
LW Design was tasked to create this extraordinary new flagship hotel in this vibrant city and overall hospitality industry in the Middle East. The iconic hotel boasts minimalist luxury and already has intrigue in the local community with its subtle appeal. Location and people are paramount to the brand.
LW Design has created arguably the best looking EDITION hotel in the world to date; it is the first hotel of its kind in Dubai with elevated style, materials and design language. The Dubai EDITION is also the first hospitality project LW Design has completed for both architecture and interiors. The EDITION collection celebrates the diversity of cities across the world, reflecting the best of cultural and social environments and a new generation of understated luxury.
Having started on the project almost five years ago, Pooja Shah-Mulani, design director at LW Design, describes the journey as the most intense but rewarding experience, making its completion the pinnacle of her career to date. “The fusion of working with an international brand such as The EDITION, in one of the most prestigious locations in Dubai, and for a client that trusted us to deliver an exceptional product, meant that expectations were only ever going to push creative boundaries into delivering something very special.
The result of ideas being challenged throughout the entire process has led to some of the most iconic moments in the hotel today, namely the arched ceiling. LW Design conceptualised The Dubai EDITION almost five years ago; the doors are now open to a design that’s ahead of its time, yet timeless and current.
It was more complicated than we thought to create something effortless while still creating something that would have the biggest impact in the market by being completely different. Having maintained our philosophy of designing to current trends through organic simplicity, the result has exceeded expectations, and we are incredibly thrilled with the outcome”.
Dubai is a world capital for design and is used to setting the bar for outstanding service and luxury hotels. It is the brave that will survive and set the tone for travel into the future. It is the first five-star luxury property that we have managed both architectural and design projects. Our vision has allowed us to successfully launch and manage many game-changing concepts such as the Vida Downtown, Zabeel House in the Greens and Media One Hotel”.
The long-awaited Dubai EDITION opens its doors as the extraordinary new flagship hotel in this vibrant city and overall hospitality industry in the Middle East. The iconic hotel boasts minimalist luxury and already has intrigue in the local community with its subtle appeal. Location and people are paramount to the brand.
International platform and recognition this project deserves.
Questions answered by Pooja Shah Mulani, Partner & Design Director, LW Design.
We hope you feel inspired by this week’s design!
If you missed the last instalment of Project of the Week, featuring a luxury property design by Jeffrey Beers International, click here to read it.
A spacious kitchen for eating and entertaining was an essential for the Italian family who moved into this stunning home in Ascot. Their first decision was to relocate the existing small kitchen into a generous extension. Next stop was Charlie Smallbone, founder of Ledbury Studio, to request a show-stopping kitchen design imbued with his signature mix of materials. The result is a stunning kitchen that’s perfect for busy family life.
Charlie’s design centres around a generous island that’s hand-painted white and wrapped in a hard-wearing Calacatta Quartz waterfall worktop. The island is positioned below a roof lantern that floods the room with natural light throughout the day; a trio of decorative pendants provides effective task lighting at night.
“The couple wanted a sleek, contemporary aesthetic for their kitchen, so we chose grey-stained natural oak for the base cupboards,” explains Charlie. “Then, to create a contrast, the island cupboards are also oak but stained white. Staining timber in this way allows the natural beauty of the grain to shine through.” A large double larder and a breakfast cupboard flank the wall run. The doors are also grey-stained oak with exquisite brass inlay in a diamond-shaped design. “And one of my favourite elements is the liquid pewter finish with shagreen-like texture we created for the wall cupboards in between,” adds Charlie.
The adjacent wall is dedicated to the practicalities of the kitchen: a bank of ovens and a dedicated fridge and freezer separated by an impressive wine cooler. Huge slabs of porcelain in a Cararra marble finish were chosen for the floor as a final touch to this fabulous open-plan kitchen where practicality and glamour go hand in hand.
Ledbury Studio kitchens start from £50,000.
About Ledbury Studio
Ledbury Studio is a new and exciting design studio, showcasing Charlie Smallbone’s latest kitchen designs. Small and personal, Ledbury Studio has been established to explore and develop the interface between kitchens to cook and work in, and kitchens to live in. The company offers something very different in the world of kitchen design, something not found elsewhere. Combining exquisite materials and artisan craftsmanship, the new kitchen collections are striking and innovative and the culmination of Charlie Smallbone’s history at the forefront of cutting edge kitchen design.
The company was originally founded in Stockholm in 1949, by Nils Erik Eklund, who came up with the idea of recycling textile offcuts into woven rag rugs. In many ways, our founder was ahead of his time and his ability to see an opportunity where others couldn’t still inspires us. Today, his granddaughters Annica and Marie keep this same spirit alive but since they took over the company from their parents Lars and Monica in 2003, they have also been on a mission – to make Bolon a design-led innovator and fuse the conservative, traditional flooring industry with the boundless creativity of the world of fashion. Under their leadership, business has transformed from a traditional weaving mill into an international design brand with clients such as Armani, Google, Four Seasons Hotels, Chanel, Adidas, Apple and Missoni Home and we’ve collaborated with world-renowned designers and architects. We are proud of our progress, but our story continues – we want to keep moving forward and innovating, creating sustainable, world leading flooring and rug solutions.
We have a team of people, both in the UK and internationally, who work closely with interior designers to keep them abreast of our new products. We aim to offer the best service possible every step of the way, including quick and efficient technical, design and sample support.
Innovation, inspiration and unique flooring and rug products.
Bolon creates beautiful flooring and rugs that stay looking that way, even after years of use. Our multiple custom options mean that there is a unique solution for each project a designer is working on, depending on the requirements of the client.
Sustainability is a big part of our DNA and we are proud of our impressive sustainability credentials. We have noticed that these are of increasing interest to all interior designers, and we’re thrilled that this has become such an important part of how designers work. It is also essential that our flooring and rugs are long lasting, so the cleanability of our flooring is also of increasing interest. Designers and their clients need flooring and rugs that are practical, as well as beautiful. People have had bad experiences with flooring that is not cleanable and therefore looks tired quickly after very little use, so they love how easy our flooring is to clean.
We’ve also noticed a number of requests for rugs that can be used both inside and outdoors.
Questions answered by Sarah Herman, Director, Bolon UK.
This week’s instalment of the Project of the Week series features a luxury property design by 2022 SBID Awards Finalist, Jeffrey Beers International.
The Alyx at EchelonSeaport is a defining contemporary landmark designed by internationally lauded Kohn Pedersen Fox architects of New York. The impressive stepped tower design takes inspiration from Boston’s Victorian neighbourhoods full of brick and brownstone row houses, and puts a modern spin on it, showcasing oversized windows with city, courtyard, and water views. On the interior, the design team at world-renown Jeffrey Beers International, crafted the lobby and amenity spaces to feel like an extension of one’s own living room; warm, inviting, and comfortable. Designed with a sense of community, the amenity experiences encourage residents to gather and socialize.
SBID Awards Category: Show Flats & Developments
Practice: Jeffrey Beers International
Project: EchelonSeaport
Location: Massachusetts, United States of America
We identified with the client’s vocation to create the property’s DNA as artistic, innovative, authentic, and communal.
Boston, specifically it’s history, culture and innovation! We have drawn inspiration from Boston’s colonial past, rich academia, and its cultural heritage, as well as from the city’s sense of authenticity and community. We are also drawn to the surrounding views of the water; the geography, design and lifestyle of the waterfront.
Budget and timing always should be managed carefully for every project.
We are honoured to be part of the progressive plans to transform the area of Boston Seaport into a neighbourhood that will balance the soul of the city with innovation and modernity.
We wanted the opportunity to highlight the project on an international stage.
Questions answered by Tim Rooney, Principal, Jeffrey Beers International.
If you missed the last instalment of Project of the Week, featuring a modern and minimalistic family house design by ND Studios, click here to read it.
The Kalizma Superyacht recently won a prestigious “Judges Special Recognition Award” and was nominated for Best Rebuilt Superyacht of 2022 at an International competition in London.
M/Y Kalizma is a classic, Edwardian, motor yacht, built in 1906 and christened Minona. Originally designed as a steam-powered yacht, she was one of the first yachts to have electric lighting.
In WWI and WWII the yacht was commandeered by the British Navy to accomplish different missions like the rescue of the crew members of over 1100 ships that had been hit and sunk in battle.
In 1967, the yacht returned to the limelight when Richard Burton gifted her to his wife, the actress Elizabeth Taylor, to celebrate her second Oscar Award for her interpretation of Martha in the 1966 film ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf’. In the same year, the couple decided to rechristen the boat with her current name of Kalizma, after Burton’s three daughters, Kate, Liza and Maria.
When the Hollywood couple divorced, Kalizma passed through many hands until she reached her current owner, who was fascinated by her artistic details and history and wanted to restore her to her former splendour.
In 2020 Palazzo Morelli was appointed to re-design the yacht and proceed with the full fit-out of it. One year later they handed the completed work to the client on time and in budget, bringing the yacht back to its former glory.
In this project, you can see the ingenuity and superb craftsmanship of Palazzo Morelli´s team who meticulously worked to retrofit some parts of the boat, while modernizing others.
Palazzo Morelli in-house Arch. Daniele Cambiotti re-designed the communal spaces to create tiny lounges with a softly glamorous atmosphere using warm, consistent lighting throughout.
Drawings and paintings were arranged around photographs taken of the couple Burton-Taylor on board Kalizma. The brass details highlight the original, precious, mahogany wood paneling, which has been kept intact and restored.
The Edwardian-style lounge bar area was personalised with Kalizma’s new coat of arms, also designed by the architect at the client’s request. This was then reproduced on all the yacht’s bespoke table linens and accessories.
Palazzo Morelli led the restoration work, guided by the owner, Alessandro Ortenzi, who personally supervised the work of the local and international craftsmen involved in the shipyard in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The restoration involved the main areas of the yacht and, more specifically, the master cabin, master bathroom, the internal lounge area and the main external deck. The work was based on philological principles of restoration and conservation and enriched the interiors with a softly glamorous, elegant atmosphere to highlight the Burton-Taylor story. The colour palette pays homage to Elizabeth Taylor’s intensely magnetic “violet” eyes and ranges from shades of grey, dark blue and burgundy to perfectly match the existing mahogany furnishings.
The traditional, nautical white has also been re-imagined in shades of champagne, which work perfectly with the technical fabrics to offer a surprisingly delicate, tactile, experience. The new arrangement of the interiors becomes more dynamic with the use of satin finish bronze cornices, profiles and details to fit in perfectly with the existing materials and complement the wall and free-standing lighting.
The refit also improved the Wi-fi network and the technological devices to use high-resolution films, videos and music in every cabin or communal area on the yacht.
The master cabin was completely refurbished using an extremely bright colour palette.
A warm champagne white is a dominant colour with brass highlights and a honey-coloured onyx cornice enhanced by a system of backlighting. An aesthetic, functional shell containing the built-in TV screen surrounds the bed. The only concession to colour is the burgundy accessories, which pick up on Kalizma’s new coat of arms. The master bathroom carries on the colour theme of the master cabin.
The final part of the refit concerned the external area of the main bridge, designed to host lively parties or enjoy moments of perfect relation and privacy. Materials were chosen to give a classic look yet with technological finishes for specific requirements at sea.
Passion, efficiency and flexibility are crucial to our success as well as high-precision equipment and finishing by hand.
Take a look around the amazing story and refit by Palazzo Morelli.
About Palazzo Morelli
Palazzo Morelli is an Italian finishing contractor dedicated to surfaces, furniture and interior design. Founded by Alessandro Ortenzi in 2006 in the Italian medieval town of Todi, Palazzo Morelli expresses Italian finest quality, attention to details and innovative professional services for architects, interior designers and real estate developers.
Creating a virtually seamless, durable mural, Metamorfosi from RAK Ceramics is a decorative porcelain surface that will make an eye-catching impression for any interior.
Metamorfosi is a large-format surface, available in two sizes – 120x260cm and 120x120cm. Inspired by the colours and shapes found in nature and responding to this important interior design trend, Metamorfosi is highly durable and splash resistant, just as porcelain should be, yet visually striking in its appeal, with several design options to choose from.
From geometric and floral patterns and lush tropical leaves, to bold and vibrant shades that tap into the trend for block colouring, Metamorfosi brings the beauty of nature in all its boldness indoors.
The collection includes nine colours and 11 decors transferred on to large-format brushed resin porcelain stoneware slabs, to create striking wall decorations that become part of the interior design. The shapes on the ceramic surfaces have a handmade appearance, creating a versatile, contemporary a wallpaper effect.
Metamorfosi is part of the Signature Collection from RAK Ceramics, a modern, sophisticated product range of cladding solutions for all design requirements.
Cover image: Rak Oltremateria Bagno
About RAK Ceramics
RAK Ceramics is one of the largest ceramics’ brands in the world. Specialising in ceramic and grès porcelain wall and floor tiles, tableware, sanitaryware and faucets, the company has the capacity to produce 123 million square metres of tiles, 5 million pieces of sanitaryware, 24 million pieces of porcelain tableware and 1 million pieces of faucets per year at its 22 state-of-the-art plants across the United Arab Emirates, India and Bangladesh. Founded in 1989 and headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, RAK Ceramics serves clients in more than 150 countries through its network of operational hubs in Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Asia, North and South America and Australia.
This week’s instalment of the Project of the Week series features a modern and minimalistic family house design by 2022 SBID Awards Finalist, ND Studios.
Natascha Dartnall, Founder & Director of ND Studios: We completely reconfigured an existing property, retaining only the listed front façade while building a modern house behind. It was important that we had lots of options when it came to marbles, stones and woods. For our client, the materials were just as important as the furniture, fixtures and fittings themselves.
Our clients shared our own commitment to sustainability and wanted to, where possible, make environmentally conscious decisions during the design, build and install. ND Studios will always seek to employ sustainable practises where possible. One of the main ways we achieved this on this project was to install a ground-source heat pump which is more environmentally friendly than alternative options because it recycles heat between seasons and it releases fewer carbon emissions.
SBID Awards Category: Residential House Over £1M
Practice: ND Studios
Project: Family Home in North London
Location: London, United Kingdom
Our client wanted their new house to be a family home suitable for both relaxation and entertaining – with a spa, cinema room and home café all on the client’s shopping list. We were asked to create fresh and contemporary interiors with a nod to minimalism. Our clients were keen that we embraced an aesthetic that had longevity and that would age well while also ensuring that it was as sustainable as possible.
Given that this was to be family home but with a modern, minimalist aesthetic a main priority was to ensure the house would work, practically speaking. How could we ensure there was a sense of home while staying true to the very pared back concept?
The bedrooms are an ode to modern comfort: clean lines, muted shades and plenty of light thanks to floor to ceiling windows. The guest bedroom includes a plump, fabric headboard which extends all the way across one of the walls, serving as a backdrop to the nightstands as well as the bed itself. This adds some softness to the room. The abstract paintings above the bed with vivid cerulean blue and scarlet red markings also adds vibrancy – just another example of how we made this modern house a family home.
The first hurdle for us was ensuring we had planning in place to knock down much of the existing property and build its modern replacement. The façade of the original property was listed and as a result it had to remain intact. This didn’t jeopardise our client’s vision or our execution of the project: we all felt it added character and a sense of history to the new home. While this held us back, it was only a matter of time before we got the go-ahead. It was a chasing and waiting game.
One of the most exciting spaces to work on was the home café which has an industrial vibe with a sculpted slab of White Fantasy marble serving as the bar area. We kept it neutral but monochrome with lots of angles and lines which made for a contemporary socialising space you’d expect to see in a busy metropolis but is a brilliant surprise to find within a leafy suburban home.
The cinema room was another exercise in making a space both relaxing, physically comfortable but also chic. There is plenty of softness thanks to the silk carpet by Loomah and the abundance of cushions, but we ensured the space has plenty of hard lines and angles too, so that the room has a sense of structure.
To have recognition for our work from an established industry body is an honour, and one which we hold in high regard.
Questions answered by Natascha Dartnall, Founder & Director, ND Studios.
If you missed the last instalment of Project of the Week, featuring a Rome inspired hotel design by THDP, click here to read it.
Introducing the latest flooring collection from sustainable Swedish design company, Bolon – Truly rugs.
Designed to make a statement, the Truly rug collection features enlarged patterns, colour effects and hyper texture. Truly is a bold collection, created in-house, and shaped around the creative vision of the five women who make up the design team, including Annica and Marie. The range consists of five made-to-measure rug designs, each with its own expression and identity, representing the passions and expertise of the Bolon team.
The bold designs consist of ANYTHING EVERYTHING, which features a graphic pattern building rooms within a room, DISRUPT AND DISCOVER, an elegant multicoloured check, 100%, a sparkling out of focus zig-zag pattern, PRECIS, a flowing pattern in magnified formations and I SEE YOU, a collage-like pattern with layers of subtle surfaces.
The creation of the Truly rug collection follows on from both the introduction of made-to-measure rugs to Bolon’s product portfolio last year, and the launch of the Truly flooring collection, earlier this year.
Headquartered in Sweden but globally renowned, Bolon is passionate about sustainability which is woven into the brand’s DNA. Truly is made in Sweden, only with renewable energy and using a mixture of recycled and new material.
Bolon’s made-to-measure rugs offer customers endless options to select the right design, trimming and size for their specific project. There are eight available trimming options and Bolon produces rugs between 2 x 2 metres and 4 x 8 metres. Bespoke rug sizes are available upon request.
About Bolon
Bolon is a Swedish design company that makes innovative flooring solutions for public spaces. It is a third-generation family business run by sisters Annica and Marie Eklund. Under their leadership, Bolon has transformed from a traditional weaving mill into an international design brand with clients such as Armani, Google, Four Seasons Hotels, Chanel, Adidas, Apple and Missoni. With a strong commitment to sustainability, Bolon designs and manufactures all its products at a facility in Ulricehamn in Sweden. The company is recognised worldwide for its award-winning flooring and its collaborations with some of the world’s most acclaimed innovators and creatives.
Join SBID
Find out more about our flexible membership structure.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
By subscribing, you agree to be added to SBID’s mailing list. As an industry’s standard bearer organisation, we strive to bring you the most up to date news and access to exclusive industry content through our various newsletters.