Emu Pattern chair

With a sunny, sticky long weekend around the corner, it’s the perfect time to graduate from the plastic patio chairs you nabbed on the side of the road; the latest outdoor furniture and lighting is airy, colourful and just as comfortable as its indoor counterparts.

Emu Pattern table

The Pattern seat is a good case in point; French designer Arik Levy’s stackable steel chair for Emu (available here through Coalesse) is chopped up with hexagonal cutouts, offering an almost snowflake-like feel. The collection also includes a bench and tables and comes in lime green, bright red, black, blue and white.

LC1 chair

Earlier this year, Cassina began launching mid-century modern classics in durable outdoor versions. The latest addition to the collection is the LC1 Chair, which was originally designed by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand in the 1930s. It’s made of polished stainless steel, with PVC-coated polyester yarn fabric that can stand up against the elements.

Gelso table

Specifically designed to coordinate with B&B Italia’s other outdoor offerings, the Gelso table by Antonio Citterio is about as simple as you can get: a white aluminium frame, with a paper-thin paper-thin crystal glass top painted to match. The table comes in 66 and 73-centimetre heights, in square and circular versions.

Grillage armchair

Ligne Roset’s Grillage armchair offers a more industrial-chic look. French designer Francois Azambourg folded a single sheet of perforated metal to form the seat and back and set it on a bent steel frame. Don’t fret about getting a patterned sunburn on your back; the seat comes with a thin cover that attaches to the chair via magnets sewn into the fabric.

Biknit chair

Biknit by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso looks like the zoomed-in detail of a cable-knit sweater. The indoor/outdoor chair and chaise is made of intertwining woven stockings wrapped around a steel frame and sled-like wooden legs. It’s a bit more on the avant-garde side, but there’s also something a bit organic about the down-to-earth materials.

Mateo table and chair

Richard Schultz set out to bring ergonomics to the garden with Mateo, a collection of 12 tables as well as dining, lounge and chaise chairs made of durable, elastometric mesh designed to support the back better than fabric or plastic. The aluminium frame is weatherproofed with the same technique used on sailboat masts.

Royal Botania outdoor lighting

Avoid the extension cords — and potential fire hazard — of bringing the living room lamp outside for the evening with dynamic outdoor lighting designed to withstand the elements. The L-shaped Twin by Royal Botania, for example, is made of white or grey Corian and steel, with an LED downlight for driveways and paths.

Spillo outdoor lighting

Spillo by Kundalini offers a softer look. The bulbous, orb-like fixture is made of polyethylene and comes in a freestanding version for decks and patios, and a stake base for grass.

Zyl outdoor lighting

Meanwhile, there’s something a bit mystical about Zyl by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas for iGuzzini — the simple, stainless steel pole and textured diffuser make the LED fixture look a bit like a magic wand, mid-spell. Nothing wrong with a little midsummer night’s ambience, right?