For a long time, garden furniture was sorely neglected by designers. Exotic exceptions, like the Garten-Ei ( Garden Egg) by Peter Ghyzcy, only prove the rule. But now the Fischer brand has taken its place alongside wickerwork specialist Dedon as a major pioneer in this seasonal segment of the furniture trade. In the 1990s Fischer succeeded in dragging leisure furniture out of its anonymity, thanks to programmes like La Piazza (by Karl-Leo Heitlinger) or Tennis (by Kurt Ranger), giving its products the status of an exclusive collection. The folding Tennis armchair is now even regarded as a classic. What set this line apart from the others is the novel combination of a wooden frame in teak, polyester webbing and stainless steel fittings (for the folding mechanism and the rear bar between the armrests). The wideranging program now includes a somewhat smaller adjustable armchair, a stackable chair, a lounger, two round dining tables (with stainless steel inserts), a trolley table and a sideboard. An
example of pure simplicity is the lounger Swing, an in-house design that combines stringency in form and comfort in use, thanks not least to its ample width and adjustable back positions. Its name comes from the accompanying armchair: a cantilevered design in polished stainless steel that adapts the famous archetype for open-air conditions. Outdoor logistics are also well served by the prize-winning variable table Domido (2003, by Kurt Ranger). It can be assembled into five different table sizes, as required: from a small 90-centimetre one to the largest, a dinner table measuring almost three metres in length.
The base panels and steel elements easily connect up to form the desired table with a continuous top. The Swedish designer Kerstin Hörlin-Holmquist has used solid teak in her Eden series – a furniture architecture that proclaims its traditionalism. Finally, a very novel approach is taken in the lightweight Air (2004, by Wolfgang C. R. Mezger) – a chair whose dynamically angled seat and back sections are completely shrouded in fabric. The white and silver weave is drawn over like a stocking, lending
both comfort and harmony in appearance.