Great style isn’t just about what’s on your back, it’s everything from what you drink to where you vacation. This is particularly true in summer’s heat, when one wants as little as possible on one’s back. Fittingly, Berluti’s latest collection sees its artisanal handwork applied to a selection of outdoor furniture—much more poolside-friendly accessories than the brand’s chiseled-toe oxfords and hand-painted briefcases.
The limited-edition collection is a collaboration with Tectona, a French outdoor furniture maker known for its minimalist patio wares. This isn’t Berluti’s first foray into the home (it has previously sheathed a number of designs by the likes of Pierre Jeanneret and Carl Auböck in its signature hides) but it is a particularly apt partnership. Beyond the two brands’ Gallic connection, they share a material synergy: Olga Berluti rose to fame with artfully patinated leathers, dyed to look as if they’ve been burnished by time; Tectona made its name with expertise in teak, the weather-resistant wood that develops its own unique patina over years of exposure to sun and rain.
The two companies have channeled that shared love of wabi-sabi and natural materials into two designs: a clean-lined reclining deck chair and a larger folding cot. Both options combine Tectona’s warm teak wood frames with woven canvas emblazoned with Berluti’s signature scritto pattern—a calligraphic print drawn from an 18th-century letter, which is often hand-etched into the brand’s leather goods—and are crowned with weather-resistant leather headrests. Timeless in their silhouettes and quietly luxe in their fabrication, the two seating options will easily make a handsome addition to most any garden, poolside or yacht deck.
The recently launched range is limited to sixty deck chairs and twenty-three cots, available on Berluti’s website or at thirty of its flagship stores worldwide. To inaugurate the collaboration, Berluti mounted an installation on the well-heeled sands of the Martinez beach club in Cannes. Models donned the brand’s high summer collection, itself featuring blown-up graphics drawn from the scritto print in breezy camp-collar silk shirts, shorts and patinated leather sandals, and lounged around on Tectona furniture. The whole mise-en-scene proved that kicking back in high style doesn’t require much more than a good pair of swim trunks and a superlative chair (though a prime Riviera location doesn’t hurt either). This is the high-roller’s answer to an Adirondack.
