Inside/Out: String moves outdoors

They say, in the TV business at least, that you should never work with children or animals, such is their unpredictability. But then they clearly haven’t met Enzo.

When it came to organising the photoshoot for iconic Swedish shelving brand String Furniture’s new outdoor products, the old, but still handsome, chocolate labrador was only too happy to be in on the action. While there’s a tradition in architectural photography – initiated by the Modernists – to use cars (in particular classic ones) as props in the staging of a project’s exterior, String Furniture co-founder Peter Erlandsson elected to put the family pet in the picture. And he was a consummate professional.

There’s something fitting about deploying a creature as warm and friendly as Enzo here. Developed by architect Nils Strinning in 1949, the String system embodies everything that’s laudable about Scandinavian design, for it manages to be both rational – and in the case of String, archly architectural – while, at the same time, through its materiality, to express a natural amiability. This is emotional stuff.

String’s stepping outside is in keeping with the current trend in reworking classic designs for outdoor settings. This transferability can be read, beyond any business imperative of course, as testament to the universality of Good Design. If best-selling armchairs, sofas and chaise longues can receive the weatherproofing treatment, why not much-loved storage? ‘A lot of customers had started to ask about the possibility of using our normal metal range outdoors,’ explains Erlandsson, ‘which we weren’t able to recommend due to the risk of rusting. So we decided with architects Anna von Schewen and Björn Dahlström to develop an attractive solution.’

Which is? Well, the String system’s classic, ladder-like side-panels have been combined with new galvanised shelves. Steel-coated alu-zinc makes for a surface that is moisture- and rust-resistant. While the shelving may not exactly be self-cleaning (and what’s wrong with a bit of mindful housework in the garden, anyway?), they are ‘self-healing’, as String Furniture's CEO Jonas Wetterlöf explains: ‘The material we use requires no additional surface treatment. Should rusting occur, it has the ability to mend itself and stop the rust from spreading.’

All the elements in the new outdoor range are produced in Sweden, as is String®’s entire collection. The side panels are made of unleaded steel that is dipped in a molten zinc bath to ward off corrosion and extend their service life. Think of it as a production bootcamp to guarantee longevity. Physical robustness aside, the String value proposition is a simple one: chronological toughness. For Nils Strinning’s shelving programme eschews the vicissitudes of trend and fashion, its formal reduction and essential materiality ensuring it avoids the pitfalls of obsolescence. More than one member of my circle of friends is an inheritor of an old String system. This is covetable – and, perhaps more importantly, sustainable – stuff.

Enzo certainly agrees.

© Architonic