February 18, 2005—To celebrate the 35th anniversary of Landscape Forms, the furniture company is launching Landscape Forms 35, a new collection for outdoor corporate environments as well as parks, streetscapes, and other places people gather out of doors.
The collection is a whole new way of looking at furniture for outdoor spaces, the company says, based on extended research of how outdoor spaces are actually used, how people would like to use them, and what design professionals say they need to meet the challenge.
When Landscape Forms sought a design partner to help create the next generation of outdoor furniture, frog jumped to mind. Founded in 1969, frog is celebrating its 35th anniversary, too. Among other projects, the San Francisco-based, award-winning, international design, identity and branding firm changed the face of the PC with its design of the Apple computer and designed airplanes and airports for Lufthansa.
Landscape Forms conducted a series of 15 roundtable discussions in cities across the US and Canada in which design professionals, writers, educators, planners, government representatives and others debated the present and future planning and use of public and private outdoor environments. The results were published in a white paper titled: Creating the Built Environment: Issues and Trends in Design.
The results directed Landscape Forms and frog to design a concept and then prototypes for a new line of products that were taken on the road for review. The resulting feedback and customers suggestions were integrated into product solutions.
The products are: Sit, a freestanding or surface-mounted bench whose form suggests the branches of a tree; Stay, a cantilever bench with a wide, graceful supporting arc; Mix, a modular system of connected seats and tables; Mingle, round tables with attached seating; Pitch, a litter receptacle with lift-off top; Chill, a chaise lounge suitable for corporate/public/urban spaces; and Shade, an umbrella with a butterfly-like form.
Landscape Forms, headquartered in Kalamazoo, Michigan, designs, manufactures and markets commercial outdoor furniture and accessories, and has won numerous design awards during its 35 year history. For more on the company, visit Landscape Forms as well as their ad on FMLink. For more on frog, visit its Web site.
