Spring in the Patio

This is why we’re full of excitement and expectation right now. The end of winter has finally come, and one can start to make actual plans that are not mere daydreaming or wishful thinking. One of our favourite things to do during this time of the year is to brush the dust off our outdoor furniture and decor and get the backyard ready for some Springtime action.

Now is also a good time to Spring forward and jump on all those ideas that you’ve been putting off for the last few months! In this lighthearted spirit, we would like to present you with some of the best outdoor furniture from our catalogue which can help you make the most out of your backyard, patio or terrace in the upcoming months.

Time to Pull Out the Patio Furniture: Outdoor furniture lounge sets/ dining sets

The first thing you have to do is to bring out that patio set that has been patiently sitting in the shed since June (or even before that). Or perhaps you are considering getting a couple of new pieces to improve your outdoor furniture setup? If this is the case then we have you covered. The Spanish furniture brands in our catalogue have everything you need, from comfortable benches and outdoors armchairs to cheeky side tables. Let’s take a quick look at some of our favourites.

Barcelona based and family-owned brand RS Barcelona, relies on their superior knowledge of metal work to produce a range of play tables and metal furniture that provoke pleasant reactions through making memories. One of their seating options is the Ombra stool. The Ombra has it all – versions at low, counter and bar height, with or without a back. It’s name means shade in Catalan, and let’s you know the ideal place to use these sturdy and comfortable stools. Kicking back with friends and family while enjoying a meal or conversation is the perfect way to enjoy them, and you can even specify them in a beautiful arrange of colours to complement your garden design.

Ondarreta is a Basque brand based in San Sebastían and with forty years of experience in furniture making. Ondarreta is one of those brands that we like so much due to their careful combination of artisanal craft techniques with modern manufacturing processes. They mostly specialise in chairs and other commercial furniture for seating, and some of their pieces in this are hard to match in terms of quality and aesthetics.

If you rather need a proper chair for outdoor dining, the Alo outdoor version is an ideal choice. Designed by Gabriel Teixidó, the Alo is a lightweight and elegant stackable steel chair. The steel-ribboned seat is reminiscent of a traditional wicker chair, with a striking perimetral detail that makes it appear as if it was floating. Although it is available in several epoxy finishes, we think that the terracotta colour has a Spring-Summery vibe. If you like the Alo chair but you need something a bit higher (say, for an outdoors bar table) the Alo H65 takes the same design and turns it into a 65cm high outdoor stool. Or perhaps you need something more broad and spacious for, say, a garden lounge? In that case, the Alo XL would fit the bill quite nicely. Another chair that is not from Ondarreta but merits a mention here is Santa & Cole’s Ramón. Designed by Ramón Bigas in 1975, this is another elegant contemporary take on the traditional wicker chair, this one orbiting the classic archetype a bit more closely than the Alo.

Founded by Jesus Gasca in 1983, STUA is a Spanish furniture manufacturer based in Astigarraga (the Basque Country) which specialises in sustainable production and timeless design, for both domestic as well as commercial use. Following Gasca’s vision, they are currently building the new STUA park, which will include the main production site, an automated warehouse, new offices and a showroom, so keep an eye out for them!

When it comes to outdoor furniture, STUA has one of our favourite armchairs. Designed by Jon Gasca (the art director of STUA for 20 years and the founder’s son) the Calma is one of the comfiest outdoor furniture options we have tried. It ingeniously combines an armchair with a hammock, creating a sling structure with soft upholstery. However, the attention to detail does not end there. It is stackable and the upholstery is made from Dryfeel foam, a material that instead of repelling water (and thus creating puddles) it lets it pass through. Plus, you can also pair it with a footrest for a full-on lounge setup.

The Deneb table is another piece from STUA, this one designed by the senior Gasca himself. The Deneb is an excellent example of what elegant restraint and masterful knowledge of materials can achieve. As the quintessential four-legged table, the Deneb is quite visibly the work of an experienced designer. In this case, we would like to draw your attention to the outdoors version, which is paired with a set of benches and combines steel with tasteful teak wood from a sustainably managed forest. Equally, outdoors-ready is the table-bench set with a High-pressure laminate (HPL) top.

Moving on to another company, BD Barcelona has several great pieces of designer outdoor furniture for your terrace, garden or patio. Jaime Hayon is one of our favourite designers in BD Barcelona’s collection due to his unmistakable cheekiness and sense of humour—qualities that he also manages to translate into top-tier contemporary designs. The Monkey side table—literally a monkey holding up a plate—is a unique coffee table where we can see Hayon at his most playful. If you would prefer a more discrete modern coffee table, the side table b designed by the renowned Konstantin Grcic is a solid alternative. This sturdy side table is made from solid architectural concrete and comes in both natural and black colours.

The Gardenias collection—winner of the Silver Delta award in 2014—is considerably more restrained when compared with the Monkey side table, but it also shows Hayon’s dexterity when transferring the personality of traditional designs to contemporary forms. The Gardenias bench is the main member of the family. This bench is a seamless blend between the traditional garden bench and a sleek modern designer piece. The Gardenias outdoors armchair uses the same principles to create an individual chair. Lastly, the Gardenias bench with pergola is the most embellished of the bunch with a design that could equally suit a baroque garden or a modern boutique hotel. All the three models can be acquired with removable upholstered cushions for added comfort.

Outdoor Furniture: Let Your Garden Blossom

With Spring comes the new bloom and the opportunity to transform your garden into a panoply of plants and flowers. In every season there is a unique set of plant species that are most prone to flourish. In Spring, we can find species such as iris, hyacinth, snowflake, and dewberry, among others. However, you will also need a couple of planters and pots to put your newly acquired blossoms. The Valencian brand Vondom has several models with a high aesthetic value and superior finish for planters and pots.

If you would like to continue with the zoomorphic theme presented by the Monkey side table, perhaps the Peacock planter can be of your liking. Conceived by the celebrated Finnish designer Aero Aarnio, this large-scale planter is inspired by the flamboyant bird from which it takes its name. In this striking piece, the bird’s colourful tail will be constituted by the flowers you decide to place in it.

The Stone is an elegant designer outdoor furniture collection designed by Stefano Giovannoni and Elisa Cargan for Vondom. As its name suggests, it is constituted by a series of stone-shaped pieces which are aesthetically located at the midpoint between organic and spaceage. Part of this collection is a series of planters made from rotomoulded polymer.

In the Suave planter, Marcel Wanders presents us with a contemporary take on the traditional chess-piece shape. Made of 100% recyclable polyethylene resin, it is available in three different sizes (from 65 to 150 cm) and a wide variety of colours. Paired with one of Hayon’s Gardenias would amount to a striking neo-Baroque ensemble. Another tasteful piece with a traditional feel designed by Wanders is the Venus planter. Like the Suave, the Venus exudes warmth and classiness.

Patio home lighting: Make your outdoor space cosier and more inviting

An aspect of domestic outdoors spaces that is sometimes overlooked is lighting. We can assure you that a good home lighting scheme can be as much of a game changer outdoors as it is indoors. There are few things more soothing and lulling than sitting in your backyard surrounded by a welcoming glow at the onset of nightfall. It is also immensely important when it comes to outdoor night gatherings. You don’t want to call it a night early on just because you don’t have adequate lighting! For the best effects, try layering up different lighting styles while keeping the brightness warm and low. Here are a couple of ideas and products from Santa & Cole that can help you achieve this.

The Cesta is a collection of lamps that have become one of Santa & Cole’s bestsellers. The original Cesta was designed back in 1962 by the world-renowned Miguel Milà after he found an abandoned opal globe in front of a glass factory in some back street in Barcelona and decided to build a floor lamp with it. The Cesta has established itself as a contemporary classic due to its iconic design and overall charm. While the original version is made from a delicate steam-bent cherry wood structure and a sleek glowing white opal glass lampshade, the forthcoming Cesta outdoor will swap the wood for aluminium and the opal for polyethylene to make it fully weatherproof.

Another great option created by Santa & Cole’s in-house design team is the Arne S Domus. The Arne S is a distilled and purified formal synthesis of the classic industrial spotlight pendant, keeping the streamlined form-follows-function appearance while refining the details to make it sleeker for more modern domestic settings. Among the available colours, we would choose the mustard to go with the Spring vibes of your patio or terrace.

Or perhaps you are a romantic at heart and think that there is no replacement for the luminous ambience that a good old candle or an oil lantern can provide for a dining setup? If this is so, we think that Santa & Cole’s Sylvestrina is the table lamp that could make you change your mind. Designed in 1974 y Enric Sòria and Jordi Garcès, the Sylvestrina is a fully portable table lamp that hearkens back to these forms of interior lighting that were used for centuries before electricity was invented.

These are only a handful of examples that we have selected for you from our catalogue of Spanish furniture and design. If you would like to take a look at more outdoor furniture options or request personalised advice, you can book a consultation with us. We are as eager as you for those sunny times that are coming, and we want to help you make the most of your domestic outdoors in the following months!