The green room: Roda

Roda, the Italian specialists in high-quality outdoor furniture, is turning 30. The anniversary falls in these strange and unusual times that validate, like no other, the brand’s founding mission to upgrade the design of life outside in gardens, and shared spaces and blend the aesthetics of indoor and outdoor living. In 1991, most of us were still seeking our exterior seating from garden centres only to find little more than wrought-iron twirls that were at odds with our increasingly pared-back interiors. We were folding ourselves in two inside collapsing deckchairs or trafficking part-time furniture inside and out in the form of foldaway bistro tables and chairs. The idea of a sofa nestling into the Nelly Moser was unimaginable.

Much has changed in the intervening years and Roda has played no small part in pioneering design for outdoor living that is consistent with indoor tastes, by challenging the status quo of materials, colours and textures for our rooms under the sky. ‘When the outdoors had no real identity, Roda marked out a new path which it has never abandoned over time,’ says the company’s artistic director, Rodolfo Dordoni, who has himself created many of the pieces that have contributed to the evolution. ‘Design has reached the garden over the years – not only has the performance of products been worked on, but also finishes, colours and materials, to leave room for the personality of those who choose them.’

The march continues this year with contributions to the collection from two new designers to the fold, both titans of modern minimal design whose work has transformed interiors over the past two decades. Piero Lissoni, a stalwart of the Italian design community, has turned his hand to reimagining classic teak outdoor dining and reclining staples. The Levante collection references traditional garden furniture with its slatted teak construction, but a clean, framed, modernist silhouette ensures the pieces fit with contemporary architecture. Like all Roda designs, the family of furniture happily finds its place inside or outside the home and includes a foldable chaise long and lounge chair.

Applying his perfectionist, sculptural touch to outdoor living, meanwhile, is London-based, Cypriot-born Michael Anastassiades who has designed the Plein Air table. With a seamless aluminium frame and inset surface made from an uninterrupted slab of stoneware, it offers an impeccable finish while gently-rounded legs and edges off-set the otherwise rigorously linear silhouette. Coming in two shades, the darker ‘Smoke’ and more delicate ‘Milk’, and a variety of sizes, the timeless piece is made to slip quietly and elegantly into both interior or exterior rooms.

More than ever before Roda is now turning its evolutionary gaze onto sustaining the environments that host its work. It has always considered durability part of its duty; the choice of materials and the quality of construction are highly considered, so that what it puts out in the world is made to last. ‘We make products that have a timeless aesthetic that will last a long time in form and function,’ says Dordoni. This is the first action towards environmentally-responsible design, but a drive also towards researching and renewing materials and construction techniques to limit damage to the environment is also afoot. The customisable cushions that coordinate with the Levante range of seating, for example, use fabrics from Roda’s new range of environmentally- friendly acrylic yarns. The fibres are recycled and produced in a new process that uses less water and fewer chemicals than ever before.

With the requirement that we do our socialising outdoors sliding into law in many parts of the world, albeit temporarily, any boundaries that might still be up between how we live on the inside of our homes and outside are blurring. Our fresh-air spaces are the extra living room we always wanted and Roda is doing a fine job of flexibly furnishing them.

© Architonic