Poliform Mad Out outdoor collection

The same curve, in rope

The indoor Mad pieces are soft circles, and the obvious way to move them outdoors would have been to copy the shape in a weatherproof fabric. Wanders went further: the outdoor versions are wrapped in woven rope, so the curve is described by the weaving itself and the piece reads as handmade from across a terrace.

The armchair is compact, which is rarer outdoors than it should be. Most outdoor lounge chairs are drawn wide because terraces are imagined as endless, and then they arrive on a balcony in Chicago. Mad Out keeps its volume wrapping rather than sprawling, so a pair fits where one sofa would not.

The coffee tables use lava stone, a volcanic rock that takes an enamelled finish and does not care about frost or sun. It is heavy, which on a roof terrace is an advantage: a light table crosses a balcony in one gust, a lava stone one does not move.

Rope needs the same care as any woven outdoor furniture, which is very little: rinse the salt off near the coast, and do not leave cushions under a cover that traps damp against the weave. The frame underneath is what carries the load, and the rope is what you touch.

The curve is drawn by the weaving, not by a moulded shell.