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| Design Within Reach’s Treviso Collection |
For years, manufacturers of all-weather outdoor furniture have been pushing austere looks for the garden. Wicker sofas and chairs paired with glass-and-iron tables or teak and cedar accessories have long been considered the al fresco norm. Though not always hip, the design scheme ensured a strong, classical look that suited any well-appointed home.
This season, however, manufacturers that cater to the growing, and increasingly expensive, exterior furniture market are aspiring to something new: comfort.
Upmarket companies, such as Källemo of Sweden, German company Weishäupl and Minotti of Italy, are targeting design-conscious consumers with warmer colours, softer edges and bigger, fluffier cushions. The developing trend emphasises a more stylish, minimalist look and follows what has been going on in interior design, say experts.
“Affluent homeowners spent years over-decorating the insides of their houses with warm, modern design pieces,” says Renee Jurgenson, an interior designer from Miami, Florida, who also specialises in creating outdoor rooms and other backyard spaces for her clients. “Naturally they’ve now moved on to the gardens, the pools and backyards and they want the same comfortable, ultra-modern aesthetic in their furnishings.”
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| Ease, by Paola Lenti |
Italian manufacturer Paola Lenti, long known for designing casual interior pieces, recently introduced the Aqua collection, designed by Francesco Rota. It includes the ample and plushly padded Wave Lounger, a contemporary chaise longue that features a sleek and fluid form that is adjustable to three positions. It comes in relaxed hues such as turquoise and cream and the terrycloth cushions have polyurethane interiors.
The Treviso Collection, recently introduced by US-based outlet Design Within Reach, comes with clean, modern lines and a durable build. Yet it also includes thicker, warm-coloured Sunbrella cushions, softer edges and more comfortable seating.
German outdoor furniture manufacturer Dedon has a new line that includes the lounge daybed, which is robust and stylish, and has thicker padding. The daybed’s fabric – softened by curvier lines, felt-like wools and touches of ash, birch and walnut – is all-weather and handwoven.
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| Float by Paola Lenti |
Several factors are driving the new exterior aesthetic, experts say. The boom in so-called outside rooms as a mainstream design trend is a critical factor, with more homeowners than ever spending handsomely to outfit their patios and backyards with the latest hip design pieces.
The extended length of the outdoor season is another factor. Outdoor kitchens, wireless hi-fi systems and professional-grade heaters are allowing people to combat the weather and stay outside beyond summer.
High-tech materials are also making it easier to create al fresco living rooms that are protected from the elements. The Sunbrella cushions at Design Within Reach include a solution-dyed acrylic that resists fading or mildewing even when exposed to extremes of sunlight, temperature and moisture. Dedon has a new line of chairs and sofas made from a material that looks like wicker but is actually made of synthetic fibres resistant to water and ultraviolet rays.
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| Daybeds from Dedon |
The outdoor furniture market has been growing steadily as more of the world’s wealthy outfit their homes with high-end design. “Having a major outdoor living area is now a must for wealthy homeowners,” says Edward Lewis of London estate agency Savills. “It’s no longer an extravagant amenity but rather a routine part of outfitting a property.”
Källemo, +46 (0)37015 000, www.kallemo.se
Weishäupl, +49 (0)8036 90 68 0, www.weishaeupl.de
Minotti, +39 (0)362343 499, www.minotti.it
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Garden gear: Green walls
One of the items in vogue at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show was the green wall or vertical garden, in which anything from grasses to bulbs surge over interior and exterior walls, writes Jane Owen.
In fact, the first one was created in 1988 by French botanist Patrick Blanc, who planted one face of Paris’s Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie .
Gardeners in North America came up with their own versions of vertical gardens faster than in the UK but now London has the world’s biggest – a 600 sq metre monster at a shopping centre. What differentiates this from Blanc’s is that the plants are rooted in compost rather than the synthetic felt system he pioneered.
Both are effective but while Blanc’s felt costs €7 a sq metre, his completed vertical gardens cost from €650 per sq m for a large outdoor project to more than €2,500 per sq metre for a small, indoor project. And Blanc will not sell his felt on its own – only as a package in which he does the planting and installation.
His walls are made up of a huge variety of specimens from across world, including urtica species, orchids, ferns and begonias. His schemes begin life looking bare and gappy but in months they bulk out to form a dense surface of lush greenery.
Alternatives to Blanc’s felt are produced by ELT Easy Green and cost from £500 per sq metre (planted and installed) depending on area and planting style. Modules can be planted with anything a designer or gardener wants.
What is less certain about soil-based vertical wall systems is how they will fare long-term. Blanc has been providing green walls for more than 20 years while the soil-based systems are relatively new.
Either way the vertical gardens are usually attached to a false wall or screen to ensure that roots and moisture can’t harm or invade the building’s structure. Automatic watering systems are used to feed as well as to irrigate the plants.
Aldingbourne Nurseries in Sussex, south-east England, is the sole UK supplier of the ELT system and Angus Cunningham of Scotscape specialises in maintaining these gardens. ELT and Blanc supply their systems worldwide.
www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com
Aldingbourne Nurseries, www.livingwallsgreenroofs.co.uk
