Today’s outdoor furniture is as stylish as yesterday’s living-room best. Damon Syson pulls up a lounger and prays for sunshine
Afew years ago I had the good fortune to spend an afternoon at Nikki Beach in St Tropez. After a few glasses of chilled rosé and a light seafood lunch, I retired to a capacious day bed and spent two blissful hours dozing in the dappled sunlight to the sound of white muslin curtains fluttering in the breeze. It was how I’d always imagined heaven.
Now widely imitated, the Nikki Beach aesthetic has become synonymous with opulent outdoor living, and its influence has spread to private homes. Where once we were content to throw a few teak chairs and a table onto our patio or terrace, garden furniture has undergone a revolution. Whatever your tastes, it is now within your grasp to create an earthly paradise in your own back yard.
As Saskia de Mits, co-owner of ‘t Huis van Oordeghem, one of Belgium’s leading outdoor furniture retailers, explains: “People definitely take inspiration from holiday resorts like Nikki Beach.
They work long hours and when they come home they want to maintain that luxurious holiday feeling. Today’s outdoor furniture has to look good, but more importantly it has to be comfortable and welcoming. If you look out of the window you should immediately have that feeling of, ‘Oh, I want to go outside; I want to sit down and relax and have a drink.’”
One of the major ways this relaxed, slouchy feel has taken hold is through the trend for ‘indoors-out’ styling. Ever since Philippe Starck unveiled his iconic Bubble Club – a three-piece suite made entirely of plastic – outdoor furniture design has increasingly resembled interior design, with low-slung sofas and armchairs teamed with rugs, lights and other accessories to complete the illusion of a living room with no roof.
The al fresco lounging concept is now evolving further with a growing selection of day beds on the market. Where once the idea of dozing off outdoors on a huge squishy sofa might have seemed unacceptably decadent, these days the Nikki Beach influence is everywhere. “In the beginning we had eating outside,” says de Mits. “Then came outdoor sofas and ‘lounging’. The next step will surely be sleeping outside.”
One of the most elegant day beds on the market is made by Spanish firm Gandia Blasco, which has just opened a three-storey Belgian showroom together with ‘t Huis van Oordeghem. The company’s minimalist white designs provide an atmosphere that is both luxurious and chic. Made of anodised aluminium and polyethylene with removable upholstery, Gandia Blasco’s day bed comes with a four-poster canopy and built-in blinds for privacy and shade, while its Cama Chill, Puff Chill and Na Xamena ranges perfectly capture the modern desire for sleek, minimalist design for your outside space.
Much of the new look has been made possible by advances in textiles and materials that combine looking natural with being resistant to UV rays, chlorine and seawater. Italian designer Paola Lenti is one of the pioneers of indoors-out design. “I consider myself primarily a researcher in the textile field,” she says, referring to her ground-breaking Aquatech and Rope fabrics.
Lenti’s Aqua range brings the comfort and elegance associated with interiors to exterior environments. One of the highlights is her Shell pouf – available in vibrant colours like orange and purple – for use indoors and outdoors.
Livening up your garden compositon with brightly coloured accessories, or even just a bowl of oranges, is an easy and useful way to create a summery feel – especially as one of the major trends this summer is black furniture, often contrasted with white upholstery and primary-coloured cushions for a stark, de stijl-influenced look.
Check out Manutti’s Aspen and Long Beach ranges for day beds, modular sofas and a wide variety of exquisite examples of this monochrome style. Habitat’s Rattan swingseat and Sarada day bed are equally on trend, while IKEA’s low-slung black Väderö bench and coffee table offers an affordable means of achieving this summer’s sombre palette.
When it comes to in-vogue materials, hardwood has been supplanted by woven plastics that resemble rattan but are durable and colour-fast. German firm Dedon has led the way with its patented Dedon Fiber, hand-woven by craftsmen on the Philippine island of Cebo. “Our furniture lasts for ever,” says Elsje Van Dosselaer of Dedon Benelux. “The frame is aluminium, with Dedon Fiber on top, which makes it totally wind, sand, sun and water resistant.”
Van Dosselaer confirms that black is big this season: “We got a lot of requests from people for black. You see it a lot in interior design and now it’s being used outdoors. We’re also seeing a move towards furniture which stacks when not in use. It’s especially useful for city apartments and penthouses with terraces, which don’t necessarily have as much space.”
Described as ‘art for the garden’, Dedon’s Obelisk range is a perfect example; four lounge chairs and a coffee table that stack to form a shape based on the menhirs (standing stones) of Carnac on the French Atlantic coast.
Organic shapes like this are big this season, such as Dedon’s much-admired Leaf lounger and their Yin and Yang chairs, which designer Nicolas Thomkins describes as “a piece of furniture made up of two elements that appear as if they were formed by nature – like stones worn down by water, or sand dunes shaped by the wind.”
But for the ultimate in dramatic organic shapes, look no further than Manutti’s Orlando day bed – a woven structure with built-in sunshade curving up and over the seat like a scorpion’s tail. Truly awesome.
FR Amateurs de position couchée
Il y a quelques années, j’ai passé un après-midi à Nikki Beach, à Saint Tropez. Après quelques verres de rosé, je me suis installée sur une large chaise longue et j’ai passé deux heures à somnoler au soleil en écoutant le bruissement des légers rideaux de mousseline agités par la brise.
Souvent imitée aujourd’hui, l’esthétique de Nikki Beach est devenue synonyme d’opulente vie en plein air et son influence s’en ressent jusque dans les maisons.
Comme l’explique Saskia de Mits, copropriétaire de ‘t Huis van Oordeghem, l’un des magasins de mobilier d’extérieur les plus en vue : “Aujourd’hui, les meubles d’extérieur doivent être beaux mais surtout, ils doivent être confortables et accueillants.”
Le mobilier d’extérieur adopte de plus en plus le design du mobilier d’intérieur, avec des canapés assortis de tapis, lampes et autres accessoires destinés à parfaire l’illusion d’un salon en plein air.
Le concept du ‘salon d’extérieur’ va plus loin aujourd’hui, avec un plus grand choix de chaises longues. L’un des plus élégants est celui de la marque espagnole Gandia Blasco. Leur design blanc minimaliste donne une atmosphère à la fois luxueuse et chic.
L’Italienne Paola Lenti est une autre pionnière du design de mobilier d’extérieur. Sa collection ‘Aqua’ apporte aux environnements d’extérieur l’élégance associée aux collections d’intérieur.
Ne manquez pas les collections Aspen et Long Beach de Manutti pour les chaises longues et canapés modulaires. La balancelle en rotin et la chaise longue Sarada d’Habitat sont tout aussi tendance, tandis que le banc Vardërö à dossier bas incliné de Ikéa, assorti de sa table basse, est une option bon marché pour constituer la palette sombre de mise cet été.
Quand aux matériaux, le bois cède la place au plastique tissé, proche du rotin mais plus durable et résistant au lavage. La collection Obelisk de la marque allemande Dedon propose quatre fauteuils et une table basse qui s’assemblent pour former une unité inspirée des menhirs de Carnac, sur la Côte atlantique française.
Mais si vous recherchez le must des formes organiques, la chaise longue Orlando de Manutti est pour vous – une structure en tissage avec un auvent intégré recourbé au dessus du siège comme une queue de scorpion.
NL Loungingliefhebbers
Enkele jaren geleden bracht ik een middag door in Nikki Beach in Saint-Tropez. Na enkele glazen rosé streek ik neer in een comfortabele ligzetel en doezelde ik twee zalige uren weg in het gefilterde zonlicht, bij het ruisen van witte mousseline in de wind.
De ondertussen alom gekopieerde stijl van Nikki Beach is synoniem geworden van een luxueus buitenleven en heeft ook de privéwoning veroverd.
Saskia De Mits, mede-eigenaar van ‘t Huis van Oordeghem, een van de toonaangevende Belgische handelaars in tuinmeubilair: “Tuinmeubilair moet er vandaag niet alleen goed uitzien, het moet vooral comfortabel en uitnodigend zijn.”
Tuinmeubels lijken steeds meer op design voor binnenshuis. Sofa’s en vloerkleden, lampen en andere accessoires wekken de illusie van een woonkamer onder de blote hemel.
Het “al fresco lounging”-concept evolueert nu verder met een steeds ruimere keuze aan beschikbare ligzetels. Een van de elegantste vind je bij het Spaanse Gandia Blasco. Hun minimalistische witte designs zijn even luxueus als stijlvol.
Een andere pionier van “binnen-buitenontwerpen” is de Italiaanse designer Paola Lenti. Met haar Aqua-assortiment brengt Lenti de verfijning van binnencollecties buitenshuis.
Ontdek ook de collecties Aspen en Long Beach van Manutti voor ligzetels en modulaire sofa’s. Bij Habitat zijn de Rattan-hangstoel en de Sarada-ligzetel mee met de trend, terwijl IKEA met het lage zwarte Väderö-zitbankje en -koffietafeltje op een budgetvriendelijke manier bijdraagt aan het strakke zomerpalet.
Wat de materialen betreft, ruimt hardhout plaats voor geweven plastics die op rotan lijken, maar duurzaam en kleurvast zijn. De Obelisk-collectie van het Duitse bedrijf Dedon bestaat uit vier armstoelen en een koffietafel, die gestapeld lijken op de menhirs van Carnac aan de FransAtlantische kust.
Maar het summum in spectaculaire organische vormen is zonder twijfel de Orlando-ligbank van Manutti.
Een geweven structuur met ingebouwd zonnescherm dat opwaarts en tot over de zetel krult als de staart van een schorpioen.
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