Outdoor lounge chairs, with a footstool in front

You use an outdoor lounge chair in short bursts: a coffee at seven, a drink at six, a book on Sunday. Flexform has two small armchairs by Antonio Citterio that suit those hours, Carlotta and Peter. Both started indoors, both now come in 316 stainless steel with a woven seat, and both pair with a footstool of their own.

Start with how you sit

A lounge chair sits lower and deeper than a dining chair, and you lean back in it. Try to picture the hour you will use it. For reading, you want a back that holds your shoulders and a footstool to put your feet up. For talking across a low table, you want a chair you can turn and pull closer without lifting it with both hands.

Count the floor as well. A lounge chair with a footstool in front takes a strip about as long as a small sofa. Leave about three feet behind it if people walk past, and set a side table within arm's reach so the glass has somewhere to go.

Carlotta: the Flexform small armchair

Citterio drew Carlotta in 1997, and the factory calls it one of the most emblematic pieces of the Flexform style. The outdoor version keeps the shape and changes the materials. A 316 stainless steel base carries a seat and back of woven polypropylene cord. You choose the steel finish, electropolished or powder-coated, and then the cord.

The cord comes in two families. The standard cord runs in sand, anthracite, bordeaux, green, white and brown. The matt cord comes in natural, ice, anthracite and straw. Pick the cord first and let the frame follow: sand cord on a white frame reads light, anthracite cord on burnished steel reads dark and quiet. The matching Carlotta footstool turns the chair into a place to stretch out. See the Carlotta collection.

Peter: the chair with crossed legs

Peter came out indoors in 2004. The factory text says it looked ready from the start to step out onto a patio or the deck of a yacht, and the outdoor version does that. Two curved legs cross in an X under the seat. The whole frame is 316 stainless steel, electropolished or powder-coated.

The seat and back take one of three woven materials: extruded PVC with a nylon core, polypropylene cord, or matt polypropylene cord. Peter has a namesake footstool, and Flexform makes seat and back cushions for it on request, at extra cost. Order the cushions if you plan to sit for an hour at a time. Skip them if the chair stands by a pool where swimmers splash it. See the Peter collection.

Carlotta or Peter

Choose Carlotta if you want a compact, low chair that reads as one woven shell on a thin base. Choose Peter if you like the crossed legs and want the option of a cushion. Both work in pairs facing a coffee table, and both look right on a narrow balcony, where a deep sofa would block the door.

Mixing the two works too. A Peter with its footstool for the reader of the house, a pair of Carlotta chairs for guests, all in the same steel finish, keeps the terrace calm.

Care over the seasons

Stainless steel and woven cord take rain and sun, and you can hose them down. Flexform still recommends a cover for each chair to keep it close to its first condition, and makes a waterproof one on request, at extra cost. If Peter has cushions, bring them in during storms and over the winter.

Ask for a price

Send us the number of chairs, the steel finish and the cord color you like through the form below, and tell us the city. We reply with a written price for Carlotta or Peter, footstools included if you want them.