Sail away with Cassina's Sail Out sofa by Rodolfo Dordoni

Though northern hemisphere home-makers are embracing hibernal hygge right now, the moment the thermometer goes up, they’ll be taking their downtime outside. That’s the pattern that was emerging even pre-pandemic, and which has only embedded further, since.

In response, 2022 outdoor living will be taken up a notch. Designs offered for exterior settings are no longer ‘garden furniture’; they are pieces that are as thoughtfully conceived and made as those designed for the indoors.

‘Today, outdoor furniture doesn’t only need to perform, it also requires aesthetics,’ says the Italian designer Rodolfo Dordoni, whose Sail Out sofa for Cassina bolsters the sophisticated palette of mid-century-styled furnishings for terraces. ‘Sail Out is a modular, extremely flexible upholstered sofa with an ironic character.’

Taking its design cues from 1950s-styled holidays, the sofa has charm and glamour, with details such as piped edging in grey gros-grain (or the same colour as the fabric) taking it up a notch. Its elegant, vintage silhouette, however, belies a thoroughly modern and technical make-up. The back padding includes SoloSoff ™, a material composed of air blown polyester fibre and memory foam, water repellent lining, and removable upholstery which all in all makes for a very comfortable seat. The teak side table, the armrest and the back cushions can be slotted into the teak side panels in much the same way a car headrest attaches and detaches, and they can, as a result, be interchanged.

Also in the furniture family is a round, cushioned Ottoman in two sizes, with an optional central cushion that serves as a backrest or tray support. A low coffee table in yellow-white or green-white terrazzo or cement and teak legs completes the set.

The Sail Out Collection is practical and thoughtful, and integrates with Dordoni’s Dine Out Collection which features stackable chairs in solid teak with polypropylene rope details and a dining table range available in solid teak or terrazzo. Most importantly, together they deliver notes of Elizabeth Taylor on honeymoon in Acapulco.

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