Flou: blurring the boundaries between inside and out
Historia de la marca de Emma Moore
Meda (MB), Italia
23.05.23
In response to the growing demand for comfortable, pleasant outdoor spaces, Italian furniture brand Flou has ingeniously crafted material and technical innovations that seamlessly blend with interior aesthetics while possessing the qualities required for exterior settings.
Italian furniture brand Flou put the design of outdoor furniture under the spotlight in their presentation at this year’s Salone del Mobile. Here, the Pierre collection designed by Studio Contromano – sofas, poufs, tables and armchairs for outdoor use
![Flou: blurring the boundaries between inside and out | Novedades](https://image.architonic.com/sto3-1/20728100/FLOU-Salone2023-Pierre-outdoor-%283%29-arcit18.jpg)
Italian furniture brand Flou put the design of outdoor furniture under the spotlight in their presentation at this year’s Salone del Mobile. Here, the Pierre collection designed by Studio Contromano – sofas, poufs, tables and armchairs for outdoor use
×The immediacy of satisfaction that the digital world serves up, be it in retail, service or communications, is changing the way we consider small comforts in all walks of life. Our brains are reconditioning to expect what we want, how we want it, where we want it and when we want it, simply because we have learnt the potential is there – or can be if what we want exists. It is how Massimiliano Messina, president of the Italian furniture brand Flou, explains the rapid evolution of outdoor furniture, now massaged structurally, materially and stylistically to perfectly align with our interior aesthetics, while possessing all the ruggedness required to weather life outside.
As textiles evolve technically to meet the demand for outdoor sofas to look and feel like those that soften our interiors, boundaries blur. Flou’s Fiocco sofa, seen here, has crossed the threshold
![Flou: blurring the boundaries between inside and out | Novedades](https://image.architonic.com/sto3-1/20728100/flou-blurring-the-boundaries-between-inside-and-out-02-arcit18.jpg)
As textiles evolve technically to meet the demand for outdoor sofas to look and feel like those that soften our interiors, boundaries blur. Flou’s Fiocco sofa, seen here, has crossed the threshold
×Calling for comfort in all environments
‘For the customer, the option of a unique style that straddles indoors and outdoors is a precise request,’ explains Messina. ‘We are increasingly used to having things immediately. Everything has become accessible – news, merchandise, services at home and in no time. We want to feel good everywhere in the same way and having identified the style that makes us feel at ease at home, we want to be able to transfer the same mood to wherever we are.’
‘For the customer, the option of a unique style that straddles indoors and outdoors is a precise request’
For Messina it isn’t simply a lockdown fallout – the need for beauty to combine with comfort in an outdoor setting was already bubbling before we were all confined ‘The pandemic has simply accelerated the process,’ he says. ‘The need to feel "well" and in pleasant environments, even in the open air, has become increasingly important.’
While some pieces are strictly indoors, increasingly the evolutions are two-way. As colours and textures migrate outside, toughened fabrics find a place indoors. The new Baia double bed (top) is pictured here with the Balloon table and Arno chairs (below)
![Flou: blurring the boundaries between inside and out | Novedades](https://image.architonic.com/sto3-1/20728100/flou-blurring-the-boundaries-between-inside-and-out-05-arcit18.jpg)
While some pieces are strictly indoors, increasingly the evolutions are two-way. As colours and textures migrate outside, toughened fabrics find a place indoors. The new Baia double bed (top) is pictured here with the Balloon table and Arno chairs (below)
×Technological advances for textiles
The challenge has been for material and technical developments to keep up with demand – and in particular the evolution of textiles that are tough and tactile in equal measure. Among Flou’s response are the fabrics Fabian and Miguel. Fabian is made from high-quality polypropylene that is fireproof and water resistant, but whose dense woven make-up and bouclé stripe gives a fashionably handmade appearance and texture that is soft to the touch. Its natural tones slot with ease into biophilic interiors, just as they complement the nature in our outdoor rooms.
Miguel, meanwhile, is made from new-generation fibres that are highly effective in their resistance to water and solar radiation, but are also fire-resistant and water washable. Made in Italy, its surface design gives a three-dimensional Jacquard effect. They are applied to the Pierre seating and poufs, designs created as interior pieces for Flou by Studio Contromano in 2021, but now kitted out for life under open skies. The softly, irregularly contoured poufs have also gained new sizes and more padding for increased comfort both indoors and out.
Fabian and Miguel are two new highly functional but intriguingly textured fabrics that take the Pierre sofas and poufs comfortably on to terraces and into gardens
![Flou: blurring the boundaries between inside and out | Novedades](https://image.architonic.com/sto3-1/20728100/flou-pierre-04-%281%29-arcit18.jpg)
Fabian and Miguel are two new highly functional but intriguingly textured fabrics that take the Pierre sofas and poufs comfortably on to terraces and into gardens
×Unifying the offer across thresholds
The imperceptibly reinforced Pierre collection joins pieces from Flou’s Gaudi and Fiocco collection that have already crossed the threshold into the open, truly unifying the look and feel of our inner and outer landscapes. ‘Just a few years ago, outdoor fabrics were very similar to plastic and generally not very pleasant to the touch,’ says Messina. ‘Now our outdoor fabrics are so pleasant that we also use them indoors in many projects. In fact, they are often more appreciated for their great resistance to wear and stains and their ease of maintenance – characteristics that in just a few years have been specially developed by the textile industry.’
‘Now our outdoor fabrics are so pleasant that we also use them indoors in many projects’
While many furniture brands were busy taking their waterproofed wares into the piazzas and plant-strewn arcades of central Milan during April’s Salone del Mobile, Flou launched its newly fortified pieces fit for outdoors by installing a lawn in the halls of the fair itself. It was the perfect way to tell the two-way story that is set to endure - the outward trajectory of indoor style, and the indoor travel of technical textiles.
All making a grand appearance at Salone, the Fiocco modular sofa designed by Pinuccio Borgonovo, available in both indoor and outdoor versions (top); the Gaudì sunbeds designed by Matteo Nunziati (middle); and the versatile Pierre collection (below)
![Flou: blurring the boundaries between inside and out | Novedades](https://image.architonic.com/sto3-1/20728100/flou-blurring-the-boundaries-between-inside-and-out-01-arcit18.jpg)
All making a grand appearance at Salone, the Fiocco modular sofa designed by Pinuccio Borgonovo, available in both indoor and outdoor versions (top); the Gaudì sunbeds designed by Matteo Nunziati (middle); and the versatile Pierre collection (below)
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