OUTDOOR MANIFESTO

Baxter's new outdoor line is a manifesto of renewed values. Inspired by the need to also furnish the outdoors, to consider the "exterior" in its entirety, it is the result of research that has taken several years. A careful study of forms and materials that expresses the desire to lend not only creative but also structural, tangible coherence to the space and the imagination.

Created in-house together with some of Baxter’s signature designers, the pieces in the line are conceived to dialogue with one other and with the interior; versatile, they form an ideal bridge between the present and the future. Seats, dormeuses, coffee tables and rugs colonise the terrace, the garden, and go all the way to the poolside: Himba by Lazzeroni, Dharma and Narciso by Studiopepe, Arizona and Manila by Paola Navone, along with the ceramic ones and the fabrics developed by the Style Office.

Beyond the threshold of the interior, the visitor embarks on a journey that reinforces the vitality and ironically playful character of the archive. The unusual, and the formally unexpected are the common thread that binds each piece, acting as a glue for the many items that make up Baxter's proposal. Lazzeroni's wooden sculpture seats and loungers look to the solid, animated silhouettes of Brazilian design; in spring and summer, they accompany us outdoors, in the cold seasons, they can be admired, like motionless guardians, in their dynamic profiles. His earthenware tables also follow suit.

The postmodern revolution of ornamentation for its own sake, in Dharma, with its lacquered finishes, takes shape in several sizes; we find it in the patio but also in the living room or in the bedroom, its geometries igniting memories of timeless architecture. In Narciso, on the other hand, it becomes a lesson in comfort: enveloping sofas and armchairs that celebrate comfort with Baxter and Studiopepe joining forces to create its fabric. The need to differentiate is then revealed in solutions that mimic the feel of raw cottons and linens, their freshness, while their DNA features the nobility of ecological yarn, obtained with innovative technologies and perfectly compliant with Baxter's environmental management system. Similarly, outdoor leathers, derived from the nautical world, whose authentic beauty increases with the passing of the seasons. And then Keramiké, ceramic that appears to be made of water and enamel, in the shape, again, of three small tables.

An irreverent foray that urges us to modulate space with sophisticated freedom, Arizona epitomises Paola Navone’s most playful design trait. So too do the Manila armchair and small armchair, in which the rounded softness of their bodies gives a contemporary twist to a 1970s trend. Elephant and Rimini, sofa, chaise longue, armchair and lounger, share the same agile lightness. The large Matera stone table comes back to life in the pictorial texture of Palladiana Green.

Between them are two hand-woven rugs in solid colours, woven flat and with the Kilim technique in India and Nepal, and, again, in yarn obtained from the post-consumer conversion of PET bottles using a depolymerisation process. Ancient traditions that embrace the present.

The trait d'union are three colour palettes: dominated by blues that sometimes reflect the lightness of aviation blue, and other times embrace the density of violets; all highlighted with touches of caramel. These are complemented by the refreshing verdigris finishes and the warmer, fine quality finish of acid-etched copper. Baxter's new chapter, set somewhere between heaven and earth.