Meridies by Roberto Lazzeroni: embracing “la bella vita”
Spring is the season when we dream of summer. Meridies, our new outdoor collection by veteran Italian designer Roberto Lazzeroni, is a dream of summer come true. Inspired by Expormim’s signature material, rattan, but made of FSC® sapele wood, Meridies proposes a journey back in time to our childhood when after spending the morning at the beach, we would return home to have lunch and then look for a shaded place to take a nap and wait for the afternoon to cool off.
In fact, “meridies” in Latin means midday, but also the cool, shady place where one can comfortably rest during the hottest hours of the day. Meridies consists of sculptural designs crafted from FSC®-certified sapele wood and a set of side tables made of ceramic and travertine, a natural stone full of texture.
Expormim’s way of working rattan is one source of inspiration; the other would be natural elements such as petals, seeds or leaves. Through them the designer reinforces the idea of softness and lightness.
Craftsmanship is a key feature of this collection. It has been designed with painstaking attention to detail so as to replicate the shapely silhouettes that rattan makes possible thanks to its natural plasticity. But providing utmost comfort was also essential. That’s why Lazzeroni’s designs come with broad, generous padded seatings and semicircular backrests with cushions.
The third key feature of this collection would be its versatility. Meridies is a child of its time and thus it reflects the tendency to blend indoor and outdoor spaces. Blurring the lines between the inside and the outside is easier now thanks to architectural solutions such as material consistency, the implementation of large panoramic windows, sliding doors and retractable roofs, landscape integration or the continuation of design elements. Lazzeroni’s Meridies is a border collection conceived to bridge the distance between outdoor and indoor spaces.
Two new dining armchairs and a premium belt, Obi designed by Ludovica+Roberto Palomba
Obi family, the outdoor seating collection by Ludovica+Roberto Palomba inspired by the belt of the traditional Japanese kimono, grows this year with the addition of two dining armchairs.
Both are very similar: their structure is made of high resistance aluminium profile and the backrest is a reminiscence of the tight belt characteristic of this outdoor collection. The difference is in the legs. One of the dining armchairs has four slender, slightly cone-shaped legs, while the other has a sled base for further stability.
As for the rest of pieces in the family (easy chairs, two-seater sofas, XL sofas and the varied assortment of modules), we have developed a signature Premium Belt: a new textured band carefully sewn by hand and wider than the original. The result is even more Japanese and elegant if possible.
