Modular in knitted-look: These are the outdoor trends of 2015/2016

Outdoors at home: The personal open-air living room is still highly popular with the consumers. As the “Social Trends” survey by Tomorrow Focus Media shows, nearly half of those people, who have their own garden, spend time in it every day. And 39 percent enjoy their green oasis several times a week. Only around 14 percent of the respondents only use it a few times a month or less frequently.

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Whereby the garden tends to be more important for women than for men. However, they all agree on one point: The garden is an important place of retreat and recreation. This is why more and more people are transforming their balconies into a replacement garden, share a piece of green with other people or rent an allotment. And what do they do in their summer living room? They like spending time with friends and family there most of all and according to a current survey having barbecues is also at the top of the priority list, followed by sunbathing and gardening. However, the corresponding furniture and accessories are necessary to make the well-being oasis complete. The trend is towards modular sofas, innovative knitted-look products and casual dining. The colour yellow is in and experimental barbecuing is becoming increasingly popular. Around 2,000 exhibitors will demonstrate all of the trends and innovations for the outdoor season 2015/16 at the spoga+gafa garden fair, which is being staged in Cologne from 30 August to 1 September 2015.

Top trend 2015/16: Casual dining

Comfortable lounge sofas and chairs, which provide a wonderful relaxing feeling with their wide and deep seats, have long since become a must-have for outdoors. However, since this furniture is not optimally suitable for dining, a totally new product group is taking the terrace by storm: special dining area solutions. The casual dining models allow slightly higher seating positions as well as casual lounging and comfortable dining. Furthermore, for the first time the manufacturers are presenting classic corner benches for outdoors - often in sofa-style. This finally puts an end to the sliding around on uncomfortable beer tent benches for hours when barbecuing. At the same time, the table systems are becoming more and more sophisticated, the variety of their materials and designs is constantly increasing. In the meantime, models with integrated infrared heating are even available.

Modular sofas

People are creating their own summer paradise in their gardens and on their balconies. Everything is designed to meet the individual tastes, the creative fantasy can be given free rein. So, it is no wonder that the consumers also require individuality when it comes down to the choice of sofas, chairs and co. As a result a trend that has long since established itself indoors is also taking off outside: modular sofas. Because they can be adapted to meet the personal requirements, they offer huge flexibility in terms of design. Many manufacturers are meanwhile offering models, which allow a multitude of different seating and lounge landscapes to be created using just a few individual modules.

Material trend: the knitted-look

Teak is currently experiencing a strong revival. The wood is no longer heavy, it has taken on a light, modern look - and is often combined with other materials such as stainless steel or textiles. In addition, a totally new design is conquering the outdoor stage: the knitted-look. Special weatherproof fabrics that have a material look and feel are used for this purpose. The sofas, chairs and stools designed in these materials radiate cosiness and warmth and score highly on the comfort scale. Especially when they are combined with a purist design language, the result is an extremely harmonious elegance that is on a par with the indoor models.

Colour trend: yellow

Starting shot for the summer mood! No other colour arouses in us the desire for the sun and warmth more than yellow. Which is why the fashion colour of last season is now also dominating the outdoor stage. From jazzy lemon, to warm buttercup yellow through to muted saffron yellow - all of the shades are in. All shades of the colour cheerfully brighten up the balcony and terrace. Blue - particularly light blue - also continues to be the rage. We associate this colour with the sea and a cloudless sky and it thus ideally enhances the yellow summer flair. In addition, white as well as natural and discrete shades such as brown, beige and sand continue to be extremely popular for the outdoor furniture segment.

The 2015 barbecue season: Time to experiment

The motto for more and more barbecue fans is - diversity is the spice of cuisine. They love experimenting and trying out unusual recipes. So, instead of classic sausages, pizza or mussels in white wine are tossed onto the hot grill. The manufacturers continue to fuel this enthusiasm for creative barbecuing with new ideas for equipment and accessories. In the meantime, the spectrum ranges from woks, which are also suitable for use in the oven, to digital thermometers with personalised settings, through to special pans that can be used for stewed dishes. Furthermore, electric spits are also highly trendy - not only for gas, but more and more frequently for charcoal grills.

In the case of the barbecues themselves, the focus also lies on diversity and comfort. This applies for both the continually growing choice of colours as well as for the technologies. For example, ceramic grills and water smokers are becoming more and more popular. In the case of the latter, which are either fired using charcoal or briquettes, the grill is located over a pan of water. This means that the fish and meat is practically steamed.

Furthermore, there are two current trends for gas models: firstly, portable models and secondly built-in grills, which allow the outdoor gourmets to individually design their barbecue environment.

Garden tools: Individuality rules

User-friendly comfort products such as cordless tools and mowing robots remain under the focus of the garden owners in the lawn and garden care sector. Which is why the manufacturers are introducing more and more technical refinements. For instance, in the meantime it is possible to programme in mowing times on the mowing robots, read fault reports and activate them by remote access. Environmental protection is a further theme that is gaining in significance - from energy efficiency through to the reduction of CO² emissions. At the same time, the appliances are evolving into optical highlights. For example, there are models with interchangeable shells that are available in different colours or which can have individual designs applied to them.

Meanwhile, many people also want their smaller garden equipment to have an individual touch. Instead of exchangeable models in standard colours, above all the women want hedge trimmers, spades and co. that are optically appealing - and are even prepared to pay more for them.

The spoga+gafa 2015 is open to trade visitors on 30 August and 31 August from 09:00 a.m. to 06:00 p.m. and on 1 September from 09:00 a.m. to 05:00 p.m.

The Garden Day 2015 is open to end-users and trade visitors on 29 and 30 August from 09:00 a.m. to 06:00 p.m.
Further information is available at www.tagdesgartens-koeln.com.

Information & images by courtesy of Spoga+Gafa

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