It's often said that COVID-19 made people desire, and subsequently rediscover, outdoor spaces and their value in domestic routines. A few years later, as memories and lessons from the pandemic fade, the desire to invest in terraces and gardens doesn't seem to be diminishing. Companies, eager to support this migration toward outdoor living, aren't just looking at traditional outdoor furniture categories like deck chairs, armchairs, and sun loungers, but are playing with memory, using their archives as heritage to be adapted to the characteristics and constraints of outdoor living.
Great design icons go outdoors
The appeal of outdoor spaces continues to influence the culture of living, in an upgrade that is more than just a redesign of materials.
photo Francesco Dolfo
photo DePasquale Maffini
foto DePasquale Maffini
photo Tommaso Sartori
photo Tommaso Sartori
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- Giulia Zappa
- 03 March 2025
In this renewed landscape, the migration of design icons to outdoor use remains perhaps a niche operation, but it says a lot about how the brand equity of these famous products can be leveraged, extending to where we wouldn't have expected them. Readapted, these great classics serve a dual function: on one hand, they aim to guarantee comfort and durability, using updated materials as a guarantee to effectively withstand weather conditions. On the other hand, they contribute to a change in language. With them, outdoor space is no longer relegated to relaxation alone, but also oriented toward hospitality. More formal and refined, it ends up serving the old function of the formal living room: as beautiful as an interior space, but also just as comfortable and sophisticated.
Companies are tasked with adapting their historical pieces to this new dimension, in an operation that, beyond the technical challenges and small updates necessary for this change in use, appears to follow the major investment in re-editions that began more than a decade ago. For those fascinated by icons, a final reflection: beyond their reassuring value, somewhere between nostalgia and status, it is precisely their original character of excellence that makes their continuous reinvention possible. A reinvention that doesn't necessarily need to be interpreted as continuity, if it's true that, in this new setting, these revamped classics resonate with a necessarily different force and aura.
The models from the Le Corbusier®, Pierre Jeanneret®, and Charlotte Perriand® Collection, like the Fauteuil Grand Confort and Fauteuil Dossier Basculant, are among the first pieces Cassina reimagines in outdoor versions, elevating terraces to the welcoming warmth of a living room. For the Fauteuil Grand Confort, the color palette is refreshed to evoke the Mediterranean landscapes so beloved by Le Corbu, while the waterproof interior upholstery ensures maximum resistance to water. The Fauteuil Dossier Basculant retains its hallmark comfort with its reclining backrest, while the upholstery is adapted with outdoor-ready fabrics.
Eero Saarinen designed the High Table as a typology capable of overcoming "the slums of the legs", the chaotic multitude of legs that irritated the Finnish designer. Given its success, why not export this model of organic, single-pedestal elegance to outdoor spaces as well? While the painted die-cast aluminum base remains unchanged, the outdoor tabletop is made of acrylic stone, rather than marble or laminate.
Without altering its iconic original shape, Bellini’s model has been updated over time to incorporate advances in material research and development. Originally featuring a metal frame encased in polyurethane, it is now made with recycled polyethylene. For the outdoor version, launched in 2024, the upholstery is made waterproof—think of Donna Jordan, the unforgettable star of Oliviero Toscani’s campaign, comfortably lounging en plein air.
Born as a table lamp, Tolomeo adapts to outdoor settings with floor, suspension, and hook versions. Materials are reengineered, and structural elements reinforced to endure greater stress. The XXL version, scaled at 4:1 compared to the traditional table model, features a timeless shade or can be used without it, exposing a diffuser that echoes the aesthetics of vintage streetlights and oil lamps.
Paulin’s organic sensuality revolutionized French interiors, steering them away from decorative excess toward pure, abstract forms expressed through softness. Originally launched in 1975, the Pacha chair now finds new life in an outdoor version. Comfort remains unchanged, but a waterproof layer in the upholstery ensures quick drying after rain. Available with or without armrests, it can also be paired with a matching pouf for added versatility.
Familiar in domestic and office spaces, Konstantin Grcic’s Chair One—with its die-cast aluminum seat and two base options, the iconic concrete cone or anodized aluminum legs—is equally at home outdoors. For this configuration, the chair includes a polyurethane cushion that enhances comfort and ensures adaptability to outdoor conditions.