Let the sun shine with Tribù’s Elio collection

When Belgian design house Tribù first worked with Toronto/New York-based design studio Yabu Pushelberg, the result was the multi-award-winning Nodi chair of 2018. Keen to renew their collaboration, Tribù called on Yabu Pushelberg’s founders, George and Glenn, to design its new collection for 2020, Elio.

The look of the Elio collection is one of simplicity, clean lines and a welcoming, enveloping seat shape. 'Sometimes the hardest thing to make is the simplest chair,' says Glenn Pushelberg. 'If you can create a very simple but elegant chair, it can easily work outside and inside – why shouldn’t it?'

This is completely in line with Tribù’s design ethos, who already in its early years saw the terrace as an extension of the house and blurred the distinction between interior and exterior design.

Inspiration for the name Elio came from the Greek sun god Helios. Yabu Pushelberg wanted to capture the shimmer of sunlight across landscapes and objects. Tribù’s exclusive composite material Tricord gave them the means to do this, 'When you look at the fibre carefully, it looks so natural because of the tonality within the single thread.' Elio comes in three subtle, natural shades: a soft green Moss, a sandy toned linen and a very dark, charcoal-grey wengé. Within each shade, the weaving together of multiple colours achieves a rich gradient effect and makes each piece of furniture one of a kind.

Although the Tricord rope is surprisingly soft to the touch, it can withstand all weather conditions thanks to the combination of polyester and polyolefin fibres, which make it water-, frost, mildew and UV-resistant.

The collection comprises an armchair and easy chair, a high-back lounge chair with a deep seat cosy cushion, and a two-seater sofa.

The woven seating shells have a softly rounded, cocoon-creating silhouette and are supported by a frame in sustainably-grown Indonesian plantation teak. The back legs cross the seating shell in a diagonal direction, emphasising the design and contrast between the woven Tricord and the smooth, natural wood.

The combination of original design and high-performance materials have made Tribù’s distinctive furniture collections ideal choices for the hospitality sector. Since its January launch, Elio has already been selected to furnish the rooftop bar at the newly opened Rosewood Guangzhou hotel. As the hotel sits at the top of the tallest building in Guangzhou, its rooftop bar is the perfect place to catch the sunset, settled in the warm embrace of an Elio chair.