Since Angelo Molteni opened a humble artisanal workshop in 1934, his company Molteni&C has evolved into a furnishings manufacturer renowned for its creative modern designs.

This year, it has continued to innovate, releasing an inaugural Outdoor Collection comprising three smaller collections: the Landmark Collection, the Timeout Collection, and the Heritage Collection.

Creative director Vincent Van Duysen says that in conceptualising this tripartite assemblage, he ‘pursued an idea of softness and wellbeing, of organic playfulness in an architectural vision of the furniture.’ He continues, ‘I was inspired by Modernism to recall the idea of permeability and transparency between indoor and outdoor spaces and that intimate connection with light and nature.’

In true Modernist fashion, Van Duysen also moved forward by borrowing from the past. The aptly-named Heritage collection, for instance, was inspired by Molteni&C’s longstanding partnerships with several distinguished 20th-century designers. It features two reinterpretations of famous works by the Italian architect, Gio Ponti.

This chaise longue was originally designed by Italian architect Gio Ponti. Now it’s part of Molteni’s Heritage Collection

The first is a chaise longue originally designed in 1952 for the outdoor sundeck of the Andrea Doria cruise liner. With an elongated body that is a single continuous line, it’s defined by a precise angle Ponti stressed in his drawings. And repurposed here for enjoying in the great outdoors is a chair with an iconic winged shell, once a key ingredient in Ponti’s design for Villa Planchart in Caracas, Venezuela.

Gio Ponti’s iconic winged chair has been reimagined for sitters to relax in the great outdoors

The Landmark Collection, meanwhile, brings Luca Meda’s inspiring designs into the 21^st century. Meda became a central figure in Molteni’s history in the 1970s. He loved reinventing reality with his pencil sketches, partnering with the likes of Aldo Rossi to pioneer some of the brand’s most iconic pieces.

Featuring furniture whose details, curves and joints convey artisanship and timeless style, the heart of this collection is Meda’s iconic Palinfrasca sofa. Its rounded form, solid frame and banded woven backrest have been given an ergonomic configuration. Removable cushions and a customisable format nod to the relaxed lifestyle of the Med.

Luca Meda’s iconic Palinfrasca sofa

And in curating the Timeout Collection, Van Duysen was influenced by the stark forms of Modernist architecture, whose cold character he has mitigated with fine lines. The strong profiles of the Phoenix sofa and Golden Gate table are contrasted by tactile woven motifs. These are found in the interlaced elements of the Guell sunbed, Greenpoint chairs and Boulogne baskets. Here, Van Duysen borrowed, too, from the traditional craft technique of fer forgé, which imbues structural metal elements with sculptural qualities. (Think iron grilles whose curved lines fall like strokes of calligraphy.)

From colour to silhouette, every part of Molteni&C’s Outdoor Collection has been carefully designed to explore the permeability between indoor and outdoor spaces

From anthracite to desert yellow, natural colours are also woven throughout these collections’ furniture, conflating organic tones and domestic objects. And a conversation between materials plays further on the permeable boundary between indoor and outdoor spaces. Solid teak throughout the Landmark Collection, for example, complements the metal profiles of the Timeout Collection. Yet the cement finish of a parabolic-shaped Arc from Foster + Partners contrasts with the perforated iron top and lava stone base of Ron Gilad’s Panna Cotta table.

Such contrast hints at a false sense of incongruity expressed most by a series of outdoor rugs and the Helios Outdoor Kitchen. These tie the three collections together, especially insofar as Van Duysen sought to give the latter ‘a simple yet structured feel, where functionality and sophistication coexist to create a modern design’.