Walking through the outdoor furniture halls at this year’s Salone del Mobile, one thing was clear: the garden is no longer where indoor design goes to be simplified. Here are three brands pushing the category forward.
Riel by S•CAB: Manufactured with 75% Post-consumer Recycled Materials
At the S•CAB booth, a deceptively simple aluminium chair was drawing attention. Reil, designed by Japanese designer Keiji Takeuchi, marks the first time the Brescia-based manufacturer has built a product entirely from extruded aluminium — with at least 75% post-consumer recycled content.
S•CAB has been making furniture since 1957, when Francesco Battaglia founded the company in Coccaglio, near Brescia. They’ve built a reputation on technopolymer chairs and stools which are functional, stackable, and contract-ready. The name itself is an acronym for “Sedute e Complementi d’Arredo Battaglia” (Battaglia Chairs and Furnishings), and the company is now in its third generation. Reil is a definite departure from their previous collections.
Takeuchi, who trained in New Zealand and Paris before spending a decade with Naoto Fukasawa, now runs his own Milan studio. He’s worked with Herman Miller, Fredericia and Boffi De Padova. In 2016, Elle Decor Japan named him Young Japanese Talent of the year.
For Reil, he started with Mediterranean imagery: “gathering on a cosy terrace, the smell of herbs, fresh food on a table, a breeze, joyful moments.” The goal was an aluminium chair that still feels warm. «A fresh entry into a congested market», as he puts it.
The trick is a single track-shaped extrusion used throughout: ladder back, ladder seat, same profile. A three-dimensionally bent rear structure proved tricky to engineer, but the result is a chair that stacks, recycles easily, and doesn’t look like it’s trying too hard. Versions with pressed-metal or woven textile seats round out the collection, offering options for different settings and price points.
Loop, a Sculptural Sofa by Ethimo
Ethimo‘s booth felt different this year. The Italian brand, founded in 2009 near the border of Lazio and Tuscany, usually leans into teak and Mediterranean restraint. The company actually grew out of the Centro Botanico Moutan — a fifteen-hectare peony garden created by Carlo Confidati, founder of Unopiù — which explains the deep connection to nature in their DNA. They work with designers like Luca Nichetto, Paola Navone and Patrick Norguet; they hold FSC certification; they’re present in over 40 countries. They’re usually solid, tasteful, and predictable in the best sense.
This time, the centrepiece was Loop: a sofa that looks more like a sculpture you’re allowed to sit on. Designer Elena Salmistraro, a Milan native who studied both fashion and industrial design at Politecnico before launching her studio in 2009, has a knack for objects that blur art and function. World Ambassador of Italian Design since 2017, Elena Salmistraro won the Frame Award for Best Designer in 2022 and landed on Forbes’ list of Italy’s 100 most successful women in 2023.
“Loop was conceived more as an organism than a simple piece of furniture,” she says. “It is an outdoor sofa with a fluid body, built out of organic volumes that come together and support each other. This is not a sofa in the classic sense of the word. It is a fertile borderline, a hybrid shape that shuns hierarchies and univocal interpretations.”
There’s no frame: the shape comes entirely from technical outdoor padding. You can approach it from any angle; there’s no front or back. And there’s two colour options: earthy terracotta-to-rust tones, or a cooler aquamarine-teal palette. The upholstery is engineered to withstand sun, rain and poolside splashes. That’s why it’s easy to imagine it poolside, on a terrace, as well as in a hotel lobby. Since it’s a total statement piece, it’s sure to attract attention wherever it gets placed. Living proof that Mediterranean restraint and sculptural ambition aren’t mutually exclusive, straight from Milan.
Delight by COUTURE Jardin: Handling Weather Without Complaint
COUTURE Jardin, the Montreal-founded brand now manufacturing in China and selling in 75 countries, returned to the Salone for the second time with a new collection called Delight.
The backstory: founder Normand Couture spent 35 years in indoor furniture before pivoting to outdoor in 2009. He’d been attending Salone every year since the 1980s to source products for his retail business. Eventually, he decided to make his own. His son Philippe joined him, and they partnered with manufacturing expert John Wu: now, they operate warehouses in North America and Asia, with a 100,000-square-metre factory producing for residential and hospitality clients worldwide.
Delight delivers on the brand’s core promise: exclusive design that survives commercial use. The aluminium frames are welded to contract-grade standards, finished to look like oak or ebony. UV-treated rope wraps around dense foam cushions; waterproof acrylic fabric handles weather without complaint. The proportions are generous, the shapes enveloping. You see these chairs and you want to sit down. The ALUwood finish is also a great touch: it gives aluminium the warmth of timber without the maintenance headaches. A smart solution for people who like the idea of wood but not the reality of annual treatments.
Three very different approaches, one shared conviction: outdoor furniture in 2026 deserves the same design attention as anything you’d put in a living room. S•CAB proves that sustainability and elegance can coexist in a single aluminium extrusion. Ethimo shows that a sofa can be sculptural and still be comfortable. COUTURE Jardin demonstrates that weather-resistant furniture can be extremely pleasing to the eye. In short, the category keeps getting more interesting — and the gap between indoors and out keeps shrinking.
