Scandinavian Outdoor Furniture

Like many popular furniture styles today, modern Scandinavian style furniture traces its roots back to the German Bauhaus design school of the 1920’s. With its embrace of simple unadorned forms, modern material usage, and pro-democratic affordable mass production techniques, Bauhaus principles led directly to an explosion of novel furniture innovations including the cantilever chair, egg chair, bent plywood seats, molded plastic shells, and countless other design icons.

Though they all had a similar design language, modern furniture designers from different areas of the world took their workrooms in different directions. While Scandinavian furniture resembles American Mid-Century Modern furniture in many ways, there are a few unique visual differences and production ethics and techniques which has made the Scandinavian style a major influence in luxury outdoor furniture in particular.

Curran proudly offers the outdoor furniture catalogs of designers based in Scandinavian countries such as Houe (Denmark), Skargaarden (Sweden), as well as collections with a distinct Scandinavian influence from more eclectic manufacturers like Gloster and DEDON.

In a general sense, Scandinavian outdoor furniture has a few core features:

• A compelling eco-story. Houe, for example, converts Danish household plastic waste into its ergonomically-contoured plastic shell chairs such as Nami. Gloster and DEDON make use of sustainably farmed teak in Indonesia.

• A practical democratic ethic. Frames and feet are typically sculptural, skinny, and Minimalist. Seats are often contoured for comfort but otherwise simple and unadorned.

• Built to last in cold, rainy weather. Organic elements such as teak or bamboo are paired with modern building materials like steel, powder-coated aluminum, and plastic. Durable high-performance materials allow for much reduced material waste.

• A light airy mood. Scandinavia in winter can be a bright, if somewhat sterile place. The Scandinavian style tries to cultivate a feeling of hygge: good-natured coziness, as well as reflect the stark beauty of the surrounding natural environment.