Inside-Out Living

Thr

ow open your doors. summer blurs the line between house and garden, so why shouldn't your furniture be able to go alfresco when you do? Here are six designers who have hit the decking, and their products look as good outside as they do in. You need never buy a sun lounger again.

Miura stool by Konstantin Grcic for Plank
A stackable stool easily slung over the shoulder for carrying, Miura might be described as an urban version of a shooting stick. The rigorous, British-trained, Munich-based Grcic would probably scoff at such speculation?he says his inspiration is a product's material qualities, in this case fiberglass-reinforced polypropylene. www.plank.it

JPN chair by JM Ferrero for Estudi Hac
Intended for the garden, Ferrero's JPN chair, which debuted at this year's Stockholm Furniture Fair, shouldn't languish in the shed during winter months. With an elegant metal form and geometric flower pattern created by the Valencia-based designer for his own brand, it deserves to be round the kitchen table. estudihac.com

Hara seat by Giorgio Gurioli for Kundalini
Transform your backyard into a hip Balearic hangout with the Modigliana, Italy-based Gurioli's Hara seat, a retrofuturist study in fiberglass. Available in orange, red and white and coated with UV-resistant lacquer, it could easily have arrived in a pop-cultural 1960s time capsule. http://kundalini.it

InOut lamp by Ramon Ubeda and Otto Canalda for Metalarte
The more than 2-m-tall Big&Big looms like a giant glowing toadstool. Despite this fairy-tale appearance, it's robustly functional. Its Barcelona designers say the rotation-molded polyethylene shell gives it the toughness of a garbage can. Fortunately, that's where the resemblance ends. www.metalarte.com

Bubble Club sofa by Philippe Starck for Kartell
The exuberant Starck made a splash with his polypropylene parody of the archetypal sofa in 2000, and it's now a chic poolside classic. Inset grooves for water drainage mean it's perfect for the life aquatic. The range is augmented by an armchair and occasional table, so you could set up your family room outdoors. www.kartell.it

Q-Couch by Frederik van Heereveld for Feek
You'd be forgiven for thinking you're sitting on the Michelin Man with Van Heereveld's Q-Couch. It's not inflatable, but it's made from the same expanded polypropylene used for side-impact protection in car design. Like the Belgian company's similarly vibrant Sliced and Orca ranges, this is playground furniture for grownups. http://feek.be