30/04/2021 - Outdoor dining with the scents of lavender and thyme and the sounds of cicadas chirping. When summer comes around, dining moves outdoors, along with the dining area. Lunch or dinner at a table surrounded by picturesque nature.
Today, outdoor dining is more important than ever. It is our only chance to rediscover moments of conviviality with friends and loved ones. So tables and chairs cross the threshold and move into the open air, creating a perfect social corner immersed in warm and lively summer colours.
Under a pergola teeming with flowers or sheltered by bamboo, outdoor dining furniture mixes materials and finishes. Large outdoor tables in coloured metal, exotic wood or concrete can match or contrast the accompanying seating.
What are the new 2021 garden furniture trends? Here are some ideas to help you create your outdoor dining area and rediscover the pleasure of outdoor living.
Outdoor dining. Solid wood tables
The private garden is an extension of indoor space. The living area in Casa Mille in Turin, designed by Fabio Fantolino, opens onto a green space with an outdoor dining area sheltered by a wall of wooden slats. Softly coloured rope seats and a long solid wood bench surround a large wood table.
Pure and essential forms. The Illum outdoor table by Tribù seems to be carved out of wood. Java teak is transformed into a linear and minimalist object whose long legs and delicate details enhance the material's natural beauty.
A classic bamboo canopy protects the dining area from the summer sun in the garden of Y house by Ofist Studio in Turkey. A solid wood table and rope chairs complement the green vegetation and the blue Bodrum sea.
Piero Lissoni designed the Levante 030 table for Roda as a reinterpretation of the classic teak table. With its wide slats and the frame’s soft lines, the top makes the table the centrepiece of any outdoor dining area.
Beyond brutalism. Outdoor concrete tables
Simply bold. The soft and generous shapes of the InOut 834 table by Gervasoni can transform an outdoor dining area with their striking presence. A crackle-finish concrete base supports a white Carrara marble top.
Rock Table, MDF Italia's bestseller, is a concrete table designed by Jean Marie Massaud whose unique silhouette can transform any space. With a harmonious juxtaposition of volumes, the tabletop appears light and thin, appearing to rise above the solid base. Today it is presented with new nature-inspired colours.
Outdoor dining. Metal tables
The warm colour of wood meets optical white. In the Masseria Pensato in Fasano, a bamboo pergola shades a metal table and chairs for brunch with Apulian delicacies. Beyond the wall is an endless field of centuries-old olive trees.
Essentiality is the catchword. The Saler outdoor table by Gandiablasco is a hymn to minimalism. Simple lines meet the rigour of neutral or total white metal. This piece of garden furniture is destined to remain in the garden forever.
Heaven by Jean-Marie Massaud for EMU is an outdoor icon. Its emblematic metal weave rises from the ground to create a game of warp and weft. The steel is matched by the transparency of glass, contributing to the table's lightness and luminescence.
Interior and exterior merge at Ramon Esteve Estudio's private residence in Alicante. A large total white metal table is the protagonist of an outdoor dining space with a breathtaking view for meals in a garden in complete harmony with nature.
A steel plate with rounded edges rests gracefully on two steel cylinders. The GON table designed by Gabriele and Oscar Buratti for Paola Lenti becomes a sculpture framed by the lush greenery of a patio or in a country garden.
Mesdames et messieurs, we present the Luxembourg table by Fermob for alfresco lunches. French style and taste invade the outdoors with the historic Luxembourg collection, previously designed for the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. A table with light and sinuous shapes, in super-colourful metal!
Metal + Wood
These outdoor materials give rise to new, high-performance combinations for outdoor dining tables.
The Hopper garden table is the quintessential convivial table. Designed by Dirk Wynants, art director and designer of Extremis, Hopper is inspired by long picnic tables. The seat is joined to the top in a continuous ribbon pattern, visually merging metal and wood. A technical fabric curtain protects the table from the sun during a hearty lunch in the garden.
The colour of black lava covers the Prato table by Manutti. The black teak top and the total black metal frame give the open-air dining area personality and a touch of glamour with matching seats and bench.
Iroko wood and die-cast aluminium. Pico Outdoor table by Flexform combines formal rigour and visual lightness in a mixture that imbues outdoor space with new stylistic canons and interpretations, perfect for outdoor dining.
Mix & Match Materials
2021 garden furnishing trends. Stone and marble interact with warm wood grain.
An open-air room. In this terraced house in the historic centre of Leuven, renovated by 51N4E, the biggest challenge was to enhance the large garden and make it usable all year round. In winter or summer, the table is the star of the space with its mix of materials and finishes. A floating glass roof, a slender concrete staircase, a terrazzo floor, a green earth wall, a large sliding window opening to the exterior complete the composition.
Naoto Fukasawa designed the oriental-inspired Ayana table for B&B Italia Outdoor. An oval top in serpentine - a typical Alpine stone - rests on an apparently light but very sturdy natural teak structure. This imposing table is perfect for a friendly and pleasant open air space.
Solid wood blends with the neutral colours of the rough wall plaster. The outdoor area in this Mykonos residence designed by Block722 contains a table that blends with the architecture. Protected by a wood and reed pergola that creates endless linear shadows, the table is surrounded by coordinated garden furniture, super cosy chairs and cushions.
Exotic suggestions and an eclectic allure for the garden table collection designed by Paola Navone for Ethimo. With Rafael, the dining table becomes a 'project' that can transform dining space into a new open-air lifestyle. The crafting of lava stone and statuary marble gives the top an extraordinary asymmetry neatly arranged on a brushed teak base. The Rafael table creates new contact with nature, an original 'form' for hospitality and dining.
Wood enters the Vondom collections for the first time. The Faz garden table by Ramón Esteve - now with a new polypropylene top and a wood finish for the legs - is inspired by the myriad forms of minerals.
