After a hectic Summer, we have decided to hold a Sustainable Sale to say goodbye to some of our favourite furniture collections that won’t be returning next year. These are some of my first designs and favourite pieces, I’m hugely proud of these collections and even more excited about what is to come – more about that very soon.
For those of you who haven’t seen our collections I should tell you a little about them. We noticed, my Husband, Ian and I, that the quality and variety in outdoor furniture simply wasn’t there, specifically for larger collections and something just a little different than the same rattan that was being churned out from cheaper discount stores right through to top end collections, the only difference being the photography. With my husband, four children and dogs I wanted pieces for my garden that suited my lifestyle but added to the design of my garden. The idea for Finn & Elder was conceived over several years and was thoroughly encouraged by Ian. We, as Nursery owners and Garden Designers had found a severe shortage of quality outdoor furniture for the gardens that we were putting together. What was available was all the same, it was boring and uninspiring and the quality of the component materials wasn’t the best. We spoke with other designers and garden owners and most importantly our own customers guaging their feelings towards what was currently available and what they would really love to see in their gardens, what they would be proud to show off.
Our Outdoor Furniture Brand, Finn & Elder is a wonderful range of hand crafted timber furniture made mainly from teak and as they say ‘solid teak wood which has the finest beauty and reputation, and is valued for its durability and natural weather resistant qualities’ the range has dining tables and chairs and sofa sets in several styles using quality outdoor fabrics that have a water and fade resistance and curves and texture to the range that speaks volumes. I’d be happy to have most of these pieces in my house so am more than happy to be featuring in the extension of my house, my garden. We, as a family, spend so much time out in the garden but with our Irish weather everything had to be suitable for our climate and water proof.
I want to tell you a bit more about some of my first designs that are included in our Sustainable Sale, and although they won’t be continuing next season they will forever be the pieces I’m the most proud of. With a design background from floristry to garden and landscape design I had been looking for a way to express my creativity again in what we do and creating our own in-house brand of luxury outdoor furniture seemed the perfect way, it was a great extension to what we were doing already.
The Cascais in Cointreau
The Cascais in all its deliciousness
This has always been one of Ian’s favourites. It’s quite low and very comfy, its quite a solid looking piece with a strong angular look. This set includes a three seater, two armchairs and a coffee table. This is the perfect addition for lounging and having a drink (or two!) with friends, nothing I love better and my husband and son love it because said drinks can be rested on the arms handily. I love it because of its texture and I just adore that rich orange colour that we’ve called Cointreau, really taking me back to my mum’s crepe suzette, her dinner party desert back in the eighties the smell of orange zest and caramelised sweetness.
The Biarritz
This set is a little bit more contemporary with a teak table top and aluminium legs in terracotta as pictured above or asteroid, a dark almost anthracite grey. Its hugely practical but with really good looks. The chairs are comfortable and more relaxed but it still looks great for an elegant dinner or chill for a barbecue or a family brunch. Although I love this piece, the feel of it and it has been very popular along with our Lisse, we’ve had to be quite ruthless and for each new piece that we’ve created for 2024 and beyond we’ve had to loose some that feel like old friends at this stage but its very much in with the new.
The Dunmore
Don’t panic, the Dunmore isn’t going completely, its been our most popular piece and if I was to pick out our one stand out, then this is it (up to know anyway). It has been iconic and its the piece we built our gold medal winning Bloom around and I have it in my own garden. What we won’t be doing again is this configuration, we were being asked for larger sizes and so we produced in this racing green fabric a three seater alongside a two seater and an ottoman, while we loved it and so many of you did too, especially after Chupi Sweetman, the designer and businesswoman chose it for her new garden, sales went through the roof. We have decided that we are going back to the smaller, more intimate two seater and two single armchairs and so this one is now in our sustainable sale but there is only a few left so be sure to snap them up.
The St Ives
The St Ives was in our second collection and when I’d put the designs on paper there was something about the way it sat, showing off the structure and framework of the pieces, slightly sat back that reminded me of family holidays in Cornwall. St Ives is such a lovely, warm fishing town with amazing character and lots of sea air and simple pleasures. Food stalls that serve the freshest seafood cockles and brown shrimp in small pots and the most decadent lobster rolls ever. Like all my furniture designs they have been created around the best of times and special places and this was certainly one of those, we have just two sets remaining as I’m writing this and they’ve gotta go unfortunately.
The Olivia
This set was so very different than anything else we’d created, I was a little unsure about it at first because it was so but you really have embraced it and taken it into your hearts the way it touched me originally. Dermot Bannon chose this piece to be a stand out piece in the garden on one of his Room to Improve houses, the piece that you saw from the expanse of glass from the open plan living/dining/kitchen space, bringing outside in and inside out and all that he has taught us over the years. Declan McKenna, the garden designer chose the Olivia to feature in his Bloom garden earlier this year, winning silver gilt. Its aluminium frame in anthracite with a teak accent to soften the look on the armrest and soft, comfortable vanilla cushions it really has a classic look that would go with most interior designs. Love it as we do, its got to make room for one of our new pieces so it has 15% off and there are only a few sets left.
