The place where design is inspired by nature and creativity becomes pure escapism. Exoticity, naturalness: these are the words that make up the new story of Rafael, the signed Ethimo e Paola Navone. A project that stems from the designer's exceptional ability to interpret and reinvent the aesthetic and formal thinking of distant cultures and landscapes, and Ethimo's passion to create an ideal and harmonious relationship between the furniture and its surroundings. Rafael is the collection of furniture lounge which is meant to be emblematic of an exotic suggestion that comes alive in the contemporary imagination, captures the essence of the world's most fascinating places to suggest extraordinary feelings of well-being and generate new experiences of outdoor living.
The collection animates and gives personality to the most exclusive outdoor spaces, taking its changing and multifaceted forms from nature and preserving its vital influences that find full expression in the strength of its lines and the rough beauty of its materials.
Designmatter and decoration thus give rise to furniture with an eclectic soulrobust, cosy proposals with enveloping volumes that exude colour and energy. The fine craftsmanship of teak, marble and lava stone is combined with the refined chromatic proposal of fabrics, always signed by Paola Navonewhich enhance the upholstery. 'A family of chairs for every moment of the day, for morning coffee, for a siesta in the shade, for a gin and tonic at sunset,' says Paola Navone. 'Rafael is robust, comfortable and friendly. Its deconstructed shape is a bit tribal. It has a backrest made of slats, all different, linked by large metal staples. This woody, organic shell encloses a soft nest of cushions. We have dedicated Rafael to a very special home'..
Rafael is a modular system of lounge seating, day beds and coffee tables. All elements can be combined with each other and at the same time can live out their own functionality on their own. Unusual and original, the hexagonal profiles of the structure, in the new scratched finish of natural teak, come to life from the alter
nance of the elements that characterise the backrest. A dimensional rhythm that gives movement and visual openness, making the furniture dynamic and 'airy'.
The backrests are defined by asymmetrical slats, held together by special metal 'staples', which together with the structure create a woody, organic shell to enclose a soft 'alcove' of cushions with refined textures and intense colours. The day bed encompasses a dual function: a unique and comfortable element that embraces the semi-reclining body, or a cosy lounge chair flanked by the coffee table embedded in the structure, whose top emerges with its unique geometry. The coffee tables, in different shapes and sizes, are the result of a careful and refined combination that enhances the nobility of the wood and the materiality of the tops, made of statuary marble or enamelled lava stone that recalls the different shades of the sea. With Rafael, Ethimo expands its proposal of elegant, complete and versatile lounge solutions, the result of an ever-perfect balance between aesthetics and functionality. Refined shapes and materials, combined with attention to detail and durability, make Rafael the ideal collection to interpret the sophisticated needs of the contemporary outdoor. 'Rafael is the rhythm of form and material that punctuates an entire day'
