outdoor lounge furniture
low
deep and round

Outdoor lounge furniture should hold you for a whole evening. This guide looks at seat depth, backs and layout on two Tribù collections by Yabu Pushelberg.

An outdoor lounge set earns its place after dinner, once people leave the table and stay for three hours. Upright dining chairs fail that test. A lounge piece sits lower and deeper, and it holds a cushion you sink into. Tribù, the Belgian outdoor furniture house founded in 1966, has two lounge collections by Yabu Pushelberg that answer the brief in opposite ways: Elio with a round woven shell, Nodi with a steel frame and rope.

Elio: a sofa you arrange yourself

Yabu Pushelberg drew Elio low and round, with the edges worn back the way water rounds a stone. It arrived in 2025 with ten pieces, all of them for sitting or lying down. A hand-woven shell wraps each frame, and the cushions drop down inside it, so a three-seat sofa keeps one continuous curve. See the Elio collection.

You place the backs and armrests. The same sofa can hold a back along its full length, open at one end into a chaise, or run without arms against a wall. On a long terrace that gives you one piece of furniture where you might have bought three.

The range covers lounge chairs in two back heights, an armchair, a footstool, sofas at one, two and three seats, a daybed, a pouf and the modular sofa. Elio has no table. The low table in front of it comes from another Tribù collection, such as the teak low table in Amanu or the Senja coffee table.

Nodi: steel, softened with rope

Nodi sits on a solid steel frame. Steel holds a thinner section than aluminum can, so the sofa keeps a low, quiet profile while it carries deep cushions. Twisted, interlaced Canax runs across the arms of the modular sofa and across the seat and back of the armchair. Light passes through the arms, and the sofa leaves the view behind it open. See the Nodi collection.

The cushions curve, so the back gives when you sit back against it. Six pieces make up the collection: the modular sofa, a meridienne, a lounge chair, a lounger, an armchair and a pouf. The armchair is the light one you carry to wherever the conversation moved.

One caution for the coast. Salt works harder on steel than on teak or rope. If the house faces the ocean, ask us about the frame finish and the service interval before you order.

Lay out the group

Start with one sofa facing the view or the fire. Put two lounge chairs across from it and a low table between them, about two thirds of the sofa length. Hold the table 14 to 18 inches off the cushions, so a glass is within arm's reach. Keep about 3 feet clear behind the group for people to pass with a tray.

A pouf handles the extra guest. The Nodi pouf works as a footrest for most of the evening and as a seat once someone else arrives. The Elio footstool does the same job in the round.

Keep deep cushions dry

Deep cushions hold more water than thin pads. The quick-dry foam in Elio pushes water out through the base, and it clears faster if you stand each cushion on edge. Elio covers come off and wash at 30 °C, and the woven shell takes a soft brush and soapy water. Take Nodi cushions indoors over winter and after any week of standing water. In full Arizona sun a lighter cover stays cooler to sit on than a dark one.

Send us the size of the lounge area and how many people sit down on a busy night through the form below. We reply with an Elio or Nodi layout, fabric choices and a figure per piece. Tribù builds to order, and the quote comes with the lead time.