SIT ON IT

Outdoor furniture

A few years ago I was on vacation in Tuscany with my partner and our two best friends. I had just finished the garden install at their New York City Brownstone and we were having a charming lunch in a hillside town and my friends proceeded to tell me they found the perfect furniture for the new terrace: Plastic stackable chairs in a terracotta color. The blood must have drained from my face at the thought this abuse of bad taste that was about to be heaped on my garden and I started questioning why I was even on vacation with such people.....when I heard riotous amounts of laughter from everyone including my partner, who where all in on the joke.
Such tragedies occur everyday in the garden world even though the market is filled with clever, interesting, classic, and modern selections.

White plastic stackable chairs have infiltrated the world and its hard to escape this chair no matter where you go. Aluminum tube/ mesh ridden/ swivel base chairs should be banned along with the overly ornate fake Victorian cast iron that for some reason is painted white.....Yuk.!!..and how the hell someone ever sits on these uncomfortable hard things that always have a back rise that hits right in the middle back. Some things where a bad idea then and even a worse idea now. And lets stop it with all the (little) (Cute) details on things. Does the back of the bench really benefit from a trite machine carved basket of flowers detail....I think not. Unless its a sculptural interpretation, flowers belong in the garden, not on our furniture or cushions.

Why do we Americans like to take everything down the most tacky base we can find.

THE MIX

Even though I think I'm stating the obvious, here goes. Your outdoor living spaces need to have a well thought out furniture plan that same as the inside. Think of number of people you would like to accomidate, traffic flow from doors to gardens, function of space: dining, drinking, relaxing or whatever.

Don't match everything from one furniture line, good grief, even the tackiest of interior rarely has all matching chairs/tables. Mix wood with woven or iron. Try different finsihes, and mix styles. Sometimes you can find little table at a flea market and have a stone top cut for it which gives it a fresh appearance. If you have the budget antique offerings add alot to any space. You can repurpose something for outdoors, like steel tables from a 50's research lab. I used something like this for a New York City terrace.

To be clear, I have nothing against the classic Teak Steamer chair with a cushion as long as the teak has been responsibly harvested. I love classic wood benches and you find many resources from outrageously expensive to moderate. I really love some amazing modern almost sculptural pieces from Janus et Cie. I like the translation of classic Louis styles in iron with sunbrella cushions from casamidy. Their work is a great blending of traditional materials and modern twists.

Check out this leaf chaise from Janus et Cie. It's organic, modern and sculptural and has a traditional finish woven resin. I'll take 5 of those lined up on the edge of a pool. For a more traditional look try Almalfi iron furniture (Janus et Cie). For more moderate price point cut still maintaning clean lines check out the classic line of furniture from Restoration hardware.

A couple of web site resources geared toward modern lifestyles offer some great modern options for outdoor seating. You just have to mix and match and shop around. I like the Louis ghost chair by philippe stark outside and the heritage polished aluminium chair is a terrific chair for any environment, you will find other ideas.

Check out Designwithinreach.com and Hivemodern.com. They don't specialize in outdoor furniture but will have pcs you can use, depending on your climate and if its a loggia or porch you have a much broader choice.

I would love to see some over the top Tony Duqudette style offerings for outdoors or styles that have a middle eastern influence. Please email me with your finds!

See my list for good resources.... Please recycle the white plastic...!