Fast stay one step ahead in the category of outdoor design

It’s strange to think how restrictive our vision for outdoor design once was, when today the boundaries between the aesthetics of outdoor and indoor have all but fallen. Not even that long ago most of us in need of a table to dine under the open skies of summer would simply have been browsing teak slatted numbers or furled ironwork ornately worked into tables and chairs at local garden centres. These were the exterior furniture archetypes we were loath to break free from. 

Among the pioneers of contemporary outdoor design who have pushed the evolution of the category forward are Fast, the Italian company born and still resident in Brescia’s leafy Valle Sabbia; an area specialising in the production of aluminium. In 1995 Fast took inspiration from local nature and industry to build a brand prescient of design preoccupations to come. Fast have now been doing their thing, creating original al fresco furniture with distinctly Italian inspiration and flair for nearly 30 years.

Unfazed by the growing competition, Fast have upped the ante and taken the retail of outdoor design to the heart of Milan’s prestigious Durini Design District. Last year they launched Fast Milano, curated by the Architecture and Design Studio Quincoces-Dragò & Partners. The successful partnership with Lopez Quincoces has led to Fast’s next move towards owning the category: it has brought the Spanish architect into the fold alongside his friend and design associate Francesco Meda to steer the creative direction. The pair have independent working lives – Lopez Quincoces largely as an architect, Meda as a designer, but for a number of projects they have come together as a dynamic art directing twosome. Fast are looking to them to ensure a fresh and modern outlook and to add a dimension of warmth and poetry to their pieces.

‘We were drawn by their attention to detail and the coexistence in their approach of rigour and creativity,’ says Fast’s CEO Marco Levrangi. ‘They embraced our outdoor philosophy and were able to enhance it with an even warmer vision. We really like their quest for new interpretations of outdoor spaces, their fresh approach and taste for essential, clean, timeless lines.’

What sealed the deal for the family-run company, however, was the creative duo’s synergy with its own working practices and values. Fast has always been driven by matters of sustainability, territory, technology and tradition: they lean on a commitment to their signature material, aluminium, alongside customisation, centralised production, attention to detail, harmony and nature. ‘At Fast there is a nice atmosphere – you feel the love for what they are doing, says Meda. It is the family business par excellence, where people are not a number, but are part of a big family. It is also one of the few companies that has an internal and centralised production, where most of the supply chain can be carefully controlled.’

Meda vows they will safeguard the company’s values while tweaking the direction. He praises the company’s open-mindedness which allows them to experiment with different materials. This has afforded a twofold advantage – the ability to warm up the designs with wood and stone elements and to design more democratically. ‘The first products we have designed cater to a diverse audience offering variations covering different price ranges,’ says Meda. ‘Fast has a high know-how in aluminum processing, but is not afraid to experiment even with materials.’

Lopez Quincoces and Meda’s debut collections are Roè, Naca and Samba, a range of products that accommodate the increasingly nuanced boundary between indoor and outdoor living spaces and feature new materials to match the collections. Aluminium is accompanied by elements with warmer hues and textures that are reminiscent of nature, such as lava stone and a special hand-made mortar, the application of which makes each product one of a kind.

These will be launched alongside Velo, a new series of endlessly customisable seating by longtime collaborator Alberto Lievore, during Salone del Mobile. The fair-stand is designed by the new creative team to reflect the brand’s close affinity with nature (walls plastered with an earthy mortar to soften all edges, and set off with plants) and similarly in the Fast Milano flagship store colours will convey a sense of familiarity and welcome, and make a sensorial connection to nature. Both promise to be oases of calm and inspiration away from the clatter of the fair.

© Architonic

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