Natural high: Fast Outdoor Living

If the success of outdoor furniture can be measured by its capacity to harmonise with the great outdoors, then Italian brand Fast achieves this emphatically. Nature is intimately intertwined with Fast’s history: the brand was founded in 1995 by the Levrangi family in Vestone, a village in verdant Valle Sabbia in northern Italy – a stunning valley with precipitous mountains, gently rolling hills and woodland, bordered to the east by Lake Garda.

This idyllic rural environment has shaped Fast’s aesthetic in an enviably organic fashion. The company might be known for its furniture made of modern, high-quality aluminium but its designs integrate with rather than impose on the landscape, thanks to their slender silhouettes and natural hues. Nature is clearly echoed in one of its most iconic creations – the bestselling Forest chair by Robby Cantarutti & Partners, whose seat traces a tree-like form in different natural shades.

Enhancing this affinity with nature is Fast’s new finish NaturAll – aluminium with a specially formulated coating – which successfully simulates wood. It is also eminently suited to outdoor living as it is very hard-wearing. Reinforcing this durability is the timeless aesthetic of Fast’s clean-lined designs, which are highly sought-after in the contract market; indeed, they grace hotels and restaurants worldwide.

The seamless connection between Fast’s designs and nature was highlighted by the brand’s exhibition stand at the Salone del Mobile this year. Nature and an accompanying sense of carefree wellbeing were evoked by the space’s soft hues – mainly a limpid sky blue and chalky beige reminiscent of stone bathed in sunlight, punctuated by stronger accents of olive green tea and terracotta. Lighting was used to evoke the shafts of sunlight seen under a pergola’s roof.

Since 2017, Fast has collaborated with high-profile designers Studio Lievore Altherr, and ever since the company has produced a larger number of collections. The latest one was showcased at the Salone this year.

The speed with which Fast now fabricates its designs is down to several factors: ‘We manufacture on site and collaborate with local suppliers, so the production of our designs can be flexible, elastic, quick,’ explains CEO Marco Levrangi. ‘Thanks to special machinery, we can customise our products, in particular for the contract market. We don’t depend on subcontractors, so we can create personalised designs with subtle variations in a very short time.’

One indispensable tool for interior designers looking to order Fast’s customised furniture is the company’s restyled website (fastspa.com), which includes a user-friendly product configurator designed for this very purpose.

Another key aspect of Fast’s manufacturing process – entirely consistent with the company's’ ethos of embracing nature – is sustainability, thanks to its commitment to identifying inefficiencies and reducing waste.

Fast’s ability to tailor-make its products was amply demonstrated during the Salone, where it unveiled twelve new fabrics, seven new colours and two innovative finishes (including NaturAll). These allow Fast to produce almost infinite permutations of its designs, among them the new Allsize table created by Alberto Lievore and available in multiple sizes; it takes the shape of small, medium-sized or large dining tables or coffee tables.

Another welcome newcomer in Fast’s product range is the Lievore-designed Zebra Knit chair, which features a highly innovative and unique breathable polyester fabric. Stretched over the chair’s frame, this has fine horizontal tears that look almost accidentally ripped, adding to the design’s organic quality. The fabric is also ultra-practical since it is waterproof, UV-resistant and fire-retardant.

Zebra Knit, which knits together nature and stylish outdoor living, is an important addition to Fast’s cutting-edge product portfolio. Hardwearing, sustainable, timeless and elegant, it exemplifies many of Fast’s core values.

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