A Closer Look at Claesson Koivisto Rune’s Stunning New Furniture Collection
As we progress through the spring, we tend to start thinking about summer activities. The weather heats up, and everyone starts looking forward to summer holidays and time away from work.
Regardless of whether you decide to take your vacation at home or abroad, summer is a time to spend with friends and family, getting together to share dinners, drinks, and good times. This often requires decor pieces that allow people to gather around en masse. Outdoor furniture can often be an afterthought, but a new concept from Swedish designers Claesson Koivisto Rune invokes natural patterns to create a collection of patio, garden, and barbeque furniture designed to bring people together.
The “Elements” collection is a series of curving circular stools, tables, and barbecue gear that fits seamlessly into any space and lets users arrange it in any way they want. Speaking about the collection, the designers say: “Our inspiration has been found in nature, from such different elements as land, sea, and living organisms. By avoiding shapes with clear direction, they do not interfere with other adjacent directions, such as a path or wall. The only form that completely disapproves is the circle. Therefore, it is the starting point for the family. Within this framework, however, the variation is large and flexible.”
Designed for Swedish grill company Widala, each one of the collection’s round-top stools and tables sits on a cylindrical base. The top itself is made from wooden slats that have been set at different angles to each other. Beneath that, a set of low, curving elements acts as bench seating, and its pieces can be arranged in whatever way the user finds most convenient. A circular barbecue acts as the centerpiece of the set. “The idea comes from different pattern elements found in nature. You can choose a more or less playful pattern design in both barbecue grills and seating and table surfaces. Three different patterns complement each other. Inspiration comes from leaves, fields, and camels. The barbecue for the patio becomes an [object] for the architect or planner to furnish the space with,” explain the designers.
“Elements” is designed to be used in any public garden, park, or barbecue area. The pieces are sturdy and durable, so they can withstand heavy usage in common areas. They are also “vandal safe,” owing largely to the fact that they have been designed with public use in mind. The company adds: “For us, it’s not about awesomely designed grills, benches, or tables. For us it’s about new memories. Memories of long summer nights that you never want to end, the well-known aromas of a coal-grilled supper. Memories of air, light, laughter, and being together.”
Claesson Koivisto Rune has kept both the user and the facilitation of memorable experiences in mind in the design of this simple yet intricate collection of outdoor furniture, which would fit in just as well in the Swedish countryside as it would in an urban park in New York or a backyard garden in London. Contemporary yet classic, “Elements” is a multipurpose collection that’s sure to bring people together and leave a lasting impression.
