Flexibility and practicality: the new face of the outdoors

The gardens, terraces, patios and swimming pools that await us as soon as the season permits need furniture that is light, modular, reconfigurable, to be moved between sun and shade, to be expanded when the company demands it, to be hastily stored away if the weather conditions dictate. Flexibility and practicality are undoubtedly the primary qualities of outdoor furniture, much more so than for indoor furniture.

It is with these objectives in mind that Cristina Celestino, the designer who has developed the Seeds collection for Ethimo, has worked: it is an essential series of tables, benches and low tables that can be interchanged in their functions: the benches, from comfortable seats with cushions, can become small tables or supports for plants and objects; vice versa, the small tables change into seats, and all together form compositions that can be easily reconfigured according to needs. The metal frame of all elements has slender stem-like legs and circular technical feet, which act both as stabilisers and as a refined decorative detail. The variety lies in the tops, which can be made of metal, but also of handcrafted marbled terracotta, natural teak or porcelain stoneware.

The same line of thought has been followed by Patrick Norguet, author of the Meltemi collection for Vermobil, from the modular sofa to the table, from small tables to lounge chairs. The element that characterises the collection of the Umbrian company, specialised in metalworking for the outdoors, is the aluminium with which all the structures are made, light and with a decorative trait in the interlacing of the tubular, which winks at the Liberty style. "A blank page in front of me," Norguet revealed when speaking of Meltemi, "and a challenge: to design the modular system for Vermobil starting from a generous aluminium structure that could accommodate various other materials in harmony, such as enamelled steel, wood, fabrics, ropes, ceramics. Like a cruise around the world: each port gave us the opportunity to take a new material on board and make it an integral part of a story, inspired by the style of the early 20th century, when travel began to become an exciting adventure".

Very similar is the production path of Fast, a company from Brescia that has identified aluminium as the key material for outdoor furniture. Together with designer duo Francesco Meda and David Lopez Quincoces, Fast has developed Unduetre, a modular sofa system that, even in its name, reveals its peculiarity: in just a few moves, the armrests and backrests can be completely reclined, transforming the seats into upholstered tops that can be freely reconfigured. The various elements, with an aluminium frame that accommodates the upholstery, can be easily moved: from the classic linear sofa layout they soon transform into a cosy and intimate island or into individual loungers to chase the sun or shade.

Light and devoid of matter, with a thin metal structure: this is how the LaVenus chairs - armchair, stool and lounge chair - designed by Luca Nichetto for Ginori 1735 look: they are the new outdoor chapter of Domus, a capsule collection of furnishings launched by the Tuscan manufacturer. The three LaVenus seats start from the indoor armchair of the same name, also designed by Nichetto, upholstered and cosy, inspired by the shape of a shell. The outdoor models maintain the silhouette, but empty it in favour of lightness and portability, while cushions in water-repellent fabrics guarantee comfort. Completing the set is the series of Bistrot coffee tables, with a marble top and a distinctive metal foot, whose shape reworks the line of the coffee cup cap, a distinctive element of Ginori 1735 porcelain.