Al fresco apparatus: garden furniture that puts a spin on the outdoors

Name: Boleto
Designer/Brand: Emiliana Martinelli for Martinelli Luce
Price: on request

These LED bollard lamps are a great example of what Italian lighting experts Martinelli Luce do so well. The functional and rationally designed outdoors lighting posts are characterised by a minimal mushroom-like silhouette (also giving the name to the lamps, as a nod to the Boletus mushrooms), and made of corten-coated aluminium. They are designed by Emiliana Martinelli, who is now heading the company founded by her father in the 1950s, both working with international designers as well as creating some of its more successful pieces

Name: ‘Lita’ armchair
Designer/Brand: Paola Navone for Slide, available from WallpaperSTORE*
Price: £320

Designed by Italian luminary Paola Navone for Slide, the ’Lita’ collection is a series of playful and contemporary furniture pieces defined by exaggerated proportions, glass accents and peculiar legs. Cut from polyethylene, this low ’Lita’ armchair presents four oversized legs that are at once mesmerising to look at and the root of the chair’s sturdy balance, while a low, expansive and curved seat offers comfort and relaxation in big doses

Name: Spark Grills
Designer/Brand: Spark
Price: $799

For anyone looking to make the most of their outdoor space, a new design savvy charcoal grill, Spark Grills, cuts a compelling figure. Inspired by midcentury modern furniture, the elegant grill pairs a slender frame with a rounded body that also happens to be backed by revolutionary technology. Utilising patented wood and charcoal briqs, which have been developed by food and biomass scientists in Boulder, Colorado where the company is based, Spark delivers all the flavor of cooking with natural wood and charcoal at the push of an ignition button.

The grill fires up in seconds, pre-heats in minutes and requires no lighter fluid. An accompanying mobile app enables users to be notified when the grill has reached its temperature, alerted to when food is cooked and ready and can also be connected to food probes for the more technically adept. Available in four matte shades of navy, charcoal, sage and cream, it’s also easy on the eye.

Name: ’O-Collection’ watering can
Designer/Brand: Studio Segers for XLBoom, available from WallpaperSTORE*
Price: $53

A collaborative project between Studio Segers and XLBoom, the ‘O-Collection’ presents a series of objects that combine contemporary aesthetics with high functionality. As such, this iron watering can has a simple, minimalist quality thanks to its clean elegant lines and a absence of adornment. Suited to both indoor and outdoor use, the can features an elongated spout and an oversized handle — two components that bolster the item’s ease of use

Name: ‘Neil Twist’ armchair
Designer/Brand: Jean Marie Massaud for MDF Italia
Price: on request

In 2018, Jean-Marie Massaud first conceived the Neil chair for MDF Italia, featuring a comfortable slanted seat and contemporary sleek silhouette. Now, the French designer is back at it, working once again with the Italian furniture company on a new iteration of the piece that can sit in your outdoor space. As the name suggests, the Neil Twist is made of a manually woven, twisted rope arranged on a cross-stitch pattern, available in a colour palette that ranges from bright green and orange to a series of grey tones. The bronze structure is formed by two interlocking parts, enhancing the impactful design’s simplicity

Name: ‘Half Dome’ floor lamp
Designer/Brand: Naoto Fukasawa for Kettal
Price: from €1,395

Spanish outdoor specialist Kettal has been in the business for more than 50 years and can be relied on to anticipate what our backyard needs next. In this case, it’s more moonlight, courtesy of Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa and his soft-edged minimalism. Evoking the moon both in shape and in the glow it casts, the ‘Half Dome’ floor lamp seems suspended in space, thanks to its narrow, seamless stem. Available in a whopping 34 colours and two different bases, Fukasawa’s slick lunar homage makes the ideal post-dusk outdoor accessory. The sun may have set, but you’ll always have the moon.

Name: Concrete round pot
Designer/brand: Marie Michielssen for Serax, available from WallpaperSTORE*
Price: £45

Designed by Marie Michielssen for Belgian brand Serax, this pot is representative of the simplicity for which the designer is known. Honed from red-coloured concrete, the simple and unassuming vessel is intended to host plants, with the inclusion of handles on each side ensuring practicality. The piece is taken from a wider collection of concrete pieces designed by Michielssen, a long-time Serax collaborator

Name: ‘Span’ bench
Designer/brand: John Pawson for Salvatori
Price: £9, 400

Master of minimalism John Pawson uses his subtle style to create a highly dynamic collection for Salvatori. In a rich mix of Bianco Carrara marble and sandblasted Avana, this monolithic bench is a statement outdoor addition that he describes ‘depends on clarity of line, form and junction’

Name: ‘Aquiloni’ table
Designer/brand: Derek Castiglioni
Price: On request

Castiglioni specialises in outdoor design following his family’s background in the landscape and planting business. He melds this with his studies in architecture to produce these playful coffee tables that join together like a puzzle to make one larger table. The mix-and-match quality of the triangular tables allows for a magnitude of geometric garden sets for summer soirées

Name: Sienna standing bowl
Designer/brand: Fort Standard, available from WallpaperSTORE*
Price: £85

A centrepiece, a vessel, a sculpture — Fort Standard’s large standing bowl offers many uses. Whether used as a fruit bowl or as a focal point for outdoor dining tables, the powder coated aluminium bowl makes a huge impression with its three architecturally-inspired planar legs and textured sienna surface

Name: Albisola
Designer/brand: Büro Famos for Paola Zani
Price: on request

Offering a simple and elegant addition to the outdoor space is this low table, seating and plant pot hybrid by German design duo Büro Famos. Made for Italian Brand Paola Zani, the sleek powder-coated steel structure is adaptable with the changing botanicals chosen to live in its pleasingly circular silhouette

Name: ‘Herringbone Bud’ vase
Designer/brand: Phil Cuttance, available from WallpaperSTORE*
Price: €44.00

An impressive demonstration of the limitless potential of handicrafts, Phil Cuttance’s ‘Herringbone’ collection presents a series of objects featuring a herringbone pattern so intricate that it could be assumed to have been created on a computer. In actual fact, the pattern that adorns the surface of this cylindrical white jesmonite vase is entirely created by hand and is the defining feature of this decorative piece, which is ideal for small arrangements or single stems

Name: Quadrado
Designer/brand: Marcio Kogan For Minotti
Price: on request

The Brazilian architect was inspired by Japanese Metabolist architecture of the 1950-60s for a multifunctional modular system. Kogan’s design is a warm addition to the outdoor set with its frame incorporating a magnitude of textures from the backrest in woven fibre to the grid effect on heavy wooden base. The organic palette also allows it to blend with the natural tones of the great outdoors

Name: ‘Terra’ marble table
Designer/brand: Simon Legald, for Normann Copenhagen
Price: £249

Simon Legald has given southern European materials a robust modern twist with this Terrazzo table. Titled ‘Terra’, the pastel hued pieces have an exclusive quality through each Terrazzo sheet being unique in its naturally developed patterns. Produced for Danish brand Normann Copenhagen, the minimalist models also have whimsically twisted legs that contrast the flat, lacquered top