Furniture in Harmony with Nature. True Design Goes Outdoors

13/05/2022 - True Design goes outside with a new series of chairs, sofas, tables and coffee tables inspired by nature. The outdoor furniture collection is designed to blend with the natural landscape thanks to a palette that evokes the bright and delicate colours of the earth, plants and flowers.
 
Founded in 1983 as a manufacturer of office and contract furniture, True Design has experimented with new ways of furnishing workspaces, developing flexible and functional furnishings closer to the comfort of home. Seats and armchairs with enveloping shapes for lounge and living areas. Desks and compact desks for offices and home offices. Multifunctional tables that morph into kitchens.
 
Today True Design is embarkingon exterior furnishings, presenting some of its most famous collections in a new outdoor version. With the Mimesi concept, True Design outdoor furniture is immersed in nature as if it were an integral part of it.
 
Sales Manager Lorenzo Maniero, the second generation at the brand's helm, tells Archiproducts how the True Design outdoor furniture collection and the Mimesi project came about.
 
True Design goes outdoors. How did this new venture come about?
It was a natural evolution. We were the first to love the outdoors, and years ago, we started to think about how to adapt some of our bestsellers into outdoor versions. The continuous development of hybrid spaces and the rediscovery of an increasingly open-air lifestyle proved us correct and prepared us for the market when the demand exploded.
 
Can you explain the Mimesis concept for True Design's outdoor furniture collection?
We have always worked with colour and dedicated a great deal of research to CMF (Colour Material Finishing). This study drove us to pay careful attention to annual trends and the observation of nature. Inspired by the natural world and its varied and countless tones, we imagined an outdoor collection that would immerse itself in the landscape rather than conflict with it. It is a mimetic and respectful design, but it is not merely design for design's sake. Immersed in nature, we can be comfortable observing it - unobtrusively.
 
The brand's CMF method identifies an intelligent system of colours, materials and finishes that simplify the creation of the mood board for the True Design outdoor furniture collection. Colour becomes a coherent yet changeable language, covering an object with an aesthetic that enhances it and modifies its characteristics.
Under the artistic direction of architect Aldo Parisotto and with colour designer Juliana Cortes, True Design proposes different palettes every year -  the result of all-around iconographic research. This year's Mimesi concept is expressed in a colour system inspired by the 4 seasons. The cool shades of ice and snow, the intense tones of lavender in bloom, the bright yellow of wheat, and the warm colours of autumn leaves. In addition to colour, True Design focuses on the materials for its outdoor collections. From metal to fabrics and finishes, the materials must resist atmospheric agents. How do the design approach and production processes modify the fabrication of outdoor products?
Research, technology and innovation are att he heart of our design system. We had to make an extra effort by experimenting with and focusing on materials to obtain even greater degrees of resistance and durability for the outdoors. Developing an outdoor product from an indoor one is not the simple translation of finishes but a new project to develop from scratch.
 
This is the case of the DNA modular seat designed by Leonardo Rossano & Debora Mansur, a plywood helix inspired by the dynamic forms of biogenetics. In the outdoor version, it is made of thin and resistant sheet steel. The Code outdoor seating collection features a range of upholstery and textiles for outdoor use. Comfortable and flexible, Code Out poufs and maxi poufs designed by Parisotto+Formenton can be implemented with backrests and small tables, creating an alphabet of informal and modular seating ideal for any space. The curved beechwood backrest and seat characterising the Not seats by E-ggs are lighter in the outdoor version thanks to a painted metal rod frame. The Marina Out seat by Leonardo Rossano also takes up the contemporary lines of its indoor version by reinterpreting its structure. Compact, light and stackable, it is available in two steel versions, with wire mesh or rods. The Neo coffee table collection by Leonardo Rossano & Debora Mansur comes to life in steel. In a play of light, shadow and overlapping textures, a patchwork of holes appears on the sheet metal tops. Parisotto+Formenton, Leonardo Rossano & Debora Mansur, E-ggs and again Favaretto&Partners, Claesson Koivisto Rune, and Orlandini Design are just some of the designers who have collaborated and continue collaborating with True Design. How crucial is the interaction between designer and brand in the production process?
We firmly believe in dialogue with our designers because it is only from discussion that the best ideas and the best products are born. The initial sketches are a means to reach significant exchange, a way of breaking the ice. Then we keep them by our side during the design, engineering and prototyping phases right up to the choice of finishes and colours for the collection's launch. It is more than just collective work. It is a growth process that is often also human and cultural.

True Design on ARCHIPRODUCTS