Somewhere in a Shanghai showroom, a silver sports car is parked with its hood missing and a tan leather armchair sitting where the hood used to be. It has round headlights and a thin chrome bumper. It has twin tailpipes and a soft glow underneath, like it’s idling outside a nightclub. It will never move an inch. It starts at $30,000.
This is the P01 Classic Sofa from Arkadia-Life, a design brand that credits Italian master artisans and sells its work under a philosophy it calls “The One and Always.” That phrase is engraved on a brushed metal license plate across the back. When your furniture has a motto, you know you’re in for a ride. Figuratively. It doesn’t drive.
The spec sheet
- Seats: one
- Wheels: none
- Speakers: 13, plus an amp and a subwoofer
- Refrigerators: one, plus a wine chiller
- Buttons: zero (five knock sensors instead)
- Weight: about 485 pounds, empty
- Starting price: $30,000, by quote
A Porsche that is very carefully not a Porsche
Arkadia-Life never says the word. Its materials only mention “1960s GT sports cars,” the way someone at a dinner party says they went to a small school outside Boston. But look at it. The bug-eye headlamps, the louvered rear lid, the long nose sloping down to the bumper. Everyone who has seen this thing has said the same three digits out loud, and none of them were wrong.
It isn’t even the strangest thing we’ve seen a 911 turn into. We once watched a Porsche dissolve into flower petals in the desert, which at least had the decency to be free.
The “sofa” seats one
Despite the name, the P01 holds one person. You don’t curl up on it with someone you love. You sit in it, alone, like a pilot, while other people stand nearby holding champagne and admiring your decisions. The official photos show exactly this scene, so at least everyone is being honest about it.
What thirty grand gets you
Lift the rear lid where a real 911 keeps its engine and you find a minibar. There are seven storage spaces in all: a refrigerator, a wine chiller, adjustable cup holders and wireless chargers. Both rear fenders swing out like drawers, one fitted for watches and the other for model cars. In the press shots it’s filled with tiny silver sports cars, so you can sit in a pretend car while looking at smaller pretend cars. It’s cars all the way down!
The sound comes from a 13-speaker system by Sensonum, a British audio company, with its own amp and subwoofer. It plays over Bluetooth, and an app tunes it to your room. The lighting shifts color with your mood, including a soft underglow that turns a bedroom into a very calm car meet.
There are no buttons. Instead, five knock sensors hide in the bodywork, so you tap the car to talk to it. Arkadia-Life calls this an industry first. We’d call it the most expensive way ever devised to knock on wood.
The options list, because of course there’s an options list
Like any proper sports car, the sticker price is where the conversation starts. The P01 is sold by quote. Premium paint adds $750 to $1,350, a different leather is another $750, and you can have your own plate engraved. Empty, it weighs about 485 pounds, before you stock the fridge. This is not a chair you push across the room to vacuum. This is a chair you plan a floor around.
One practical note for American buyers: it’s rated for 220 volts, so that’s worth raising on the quote call, somewhere between choosing the leather and choosing the plate.
Who is this actually for?
The person who already has the car. The garage is full, the obsession has run out of room, and it has quietly wandered into the living room looking for somewhere to sit. For everyone else, Arkadia-Life sells the P02 Max, a $3,000 wall-mounted front end you can fill with a humidor or more model cars. It’s a nose for your wall, like a hunting trophy for people who hunt at Pebble Beach.
It isn’t the first 911 to become furniture, either. Back in 2014, Luc and Andre showed a sofa built from the rear of a 911 at Geneva for around $20,000. That one took half a car. The P01 takes the nose and the tail, skips the engine and installs a fridge.
We have a soft spot for cars that were never meant to go anywhere. We’ve dreamed up cars designed in the style of famous architects and admired puffy automobiles you could nap on. The P01 is the first one you can actually order. We would never buy one. But it’s pretty fun to look at!
Images courtesy of Arkadia-Life. Via Uncrate.
