Outdoor furniture is a pretty broad term, and seeing as it is one we harp on about regularly, we thought we’d clarify exactly what comes under such a loose word.

There are plenty of ways to embellish ones outdoor living area, and what better way to create a more hospitable environment than with furniture? Here’s how you can do so…

Loungers

Who doesn’t love a good lounger? You probably have a few lying around your house now… eating all of your food, spending all of your money, and just generally being children. But in all seriousness, loungers are the perfect garden lounging furniture – they’re somewhere between a comfy chair and a bed, and just perfect for catching those summer rays on.

Sofas

We all know what sofas are, but whereas you probably first think of the piece of furniture that faces the TV, we are more concerned with luxurious outdoor seating! There are plenty of different sofas to choose from varying in size, style, and shades making them some of the most versatile outdoor furniture.

Dining Sets

The last offering of outdoor furniture we do are dining sets. We cherish our good weather and one of the best ways to do so is by dining alfresco, and for that you want a quality place to sit yourself and your plates. Again this is a very broad category that includes chairs, stools, large and small table settings – all of which are lovingly made from our superior German rattan.

When it comes to making good-quality furniture, location is obviously nowhere near as important as craftsmanship and high-calibre materials. Having said that, we do like to think that NZ companies have a bit of an edge – after all, outdoor furniture has to be able to cope with the elements, and the climate here in Auckland makes for one heck of a testing ground.

Allow us to expand on that. As Wikipedia will tell you, we get quite a range of weathers here in Auckland – the subtropical climate means that we’re a fairly warm city (one of the warmest in New Zealand), but we get our fair share of rain as well. Maybe even a little more than our fair share.

In short, Auckland is frequently subjected to both ends of the meteorological spectrum. And that’s great, because it means that we absolutely have to make sturdy, weather-resistant products if we want to stand a chance in the outdoor furniture market.

Of course, there is another upside. Auckland and New Zealand at large are famed for their spectacular scenery, and our love of getting outside to enjoy the view is a big part of why we started making outdoor furniture in the first place. We may operate internationally, but iola is an NZ company through and through – if you’re ever in Auckland, why not drop in and visit our showroom?

Here at Iola, luxury furniture is our calling - it’s what we do! So when the term luxury furniture comes up we truly feel we have earned the right to use it, and here are the reasons why...

Meticulous Materials

Basically, every material we use to make our furniture is the best. Every material has been specifically chosen because it is the best material for the job. The rattan itself is made by Rehau, a worldwide leader in polymer solutions and master German engineers. The metal we use for the frame is a specially thickened alloy that is superior to our competitors. Even the very fixtures and fittings we use are made from marine grade stainless steel to ensure they stand the test of time.

Craftsmanship Class

Having the right tools is one thing, but if you cannot carefully assemble luxury furniture then sourcing those materials would be a waste. Thankfully at Iola we have a team of master weavers from Cebu in the Philippines who are famed for their skills with rattan. Every single piece of furniture that leaves our workshop has been lovingly handcrafted and quality controlled to ensure your furniture is the best it can be – bearing in mind some of our pieces take over 30 days to construct, you can see the level of care and detail that goes into every piece.

If you are seeking luxury furniture for a home or commercial area, you really will struggle to find a more superior source than here at Iola! We’ve earned the right to call our furniture luxury.

Not sure what 'rattan' is? Wondering whether or not iola's ravishing rattan creations are a good choice for your space? Read on, and allow us to dispel your doubts...

Q: What is rattan?

A: Rattan is a type of palm tree found in tropical environments. Our furniture is made from rattan fibre; the core of the rattan tree is turned into wicker strands, and we weave those strands onto metal frames to create our beautiful rattan sofas, loungers, tables and chairs.

Q: Are rattan and wicker the same thing?

A: Not exactly. The word 'wicker' can refer to any kind of woven fibre - rattan wicker is only one type. Some wicker is even made entirely of plastic! While some manufacturers use the word indiscriminately, it isn't really 'rattan' unless it comes from a rattan palm tree.

Q: Do iola use real rattan?

A: Yes, although our rattan fibre is coated in recycled plastic for extra endurance. Natural rattan wicker would rot very quickly if left outdoors, and that's why we use PE rattan (natural rattan fibre with a polyethylene coating that toughens it up).

Now that you've learned about rattan furniture, return to iola's homepage and take a look at the beautiful rattan creations that we sell!

Pictured above is one of our most innovative and internationally sought after pieces of furniture: The Hanging Egg Chair. This beautiful chair is hand-crafted and designed specifically so that you can really make the most of your outdoor space by relaxing and swinging back and forth in your Iola Egg Chair. The chair comes with attached chain feature so you can swing to your heart's content whilst reading, relaxing or doing whatever you like in your garden! 

The beautiful egg shape is a delicious cocoon of warmth, the curve of the chair allowing plenty of room for you to curl up in a way which you see comfortable. The luxury chair includes a seat cushion and back cushion for optimum comfort at all times. The best part about our hanging egg chair? It's completely customisable: you can choose the colour of the beautiful woven rattan and take your pick of our exquisite range of fabric design options, all provided by internationally recognises brands. 

We are the only outdoor furniture company in New Zealand to use durable German fibre rattan in our outdoor furniture products, so you can rest assured that your Hanging Egg Chair from Iola will be of the highest quality possible. To begin customising your personal Hanging Egg Chair simply click here, and prepare for your journey to ultimate luxury. 

We have supplied our luxury bespoke furniture to a number of high-end clients including Melia, Sofitel, Four Seasons and the Hilton. We won such clients over with our relentless pursuit for absolute quality and absolute craftsmanship.

If you take a look through our range of loungers, dining sets, and rattan sofas you will soon see the kind of beautiful bespoke luxury furniture we do as standard. All of the said furniture benefits from our superior alloy frame, marine grade stainless steel fixtures and fittings, and our quality German rattan which is all brought together by our master weavers. 

What you may not know is that we also do entirely bespoke pieces of our famous furniture too. If you have specific requirements that you want your rattan furniture needs to meet, we are more than happy to cater to those. We have crafted a multitude of completely unique pieces of furniture for our clients, and here are a few examples to give you a little taster.

This stunning outdoor rattan bed is the very epitome of luxurious lounging! Not only can this be used as a spacious outdoor bed, but each of the loungers is reclinable meaning you can relax in your desired seating position. 

This fetching egg chair makes for a beautiful place to sit, and comes with a handy chain should you want to gently lull yourself. Our clients took full advantage of our bespoke option and kitted out their premises with these luxurious chairs.

Another piece of bespoke commercial furniture we created was this sail bed lounger! Taking 27 days to construct these beds are true gems of craftsmanship, and this client enjoyed their bespoke weaving and sail colour options.

We go to extraordinary lengths to please our customers, and so when this client wanted a stackable chair in a slightly different design, we were more than happy to oblige! And doesn't it look great in this bold bronze colour?

Here at Iola, we like to think we bring you more than just rattan outdoor furniture; we like to think we open up a whole world of outdoor living to our customers, and that’s good.

Most of us have an outdoor space but few of us truly embrace it. We see any garden area as an extension of the house, as another room to the house even, and so embellishing it with rattan outdoor furniture to make it a more habitable environment is a perfectly reasonable thing to want to do.

What we at Iola also believe is that furniture has the ability to make a room – that is, to truly transform a space into something you are proud of! If you have been neglecting your outdoor area for some time now, you have already missed out on countless social and leisure opportunities you could have enjoyed in the garden.

It is never too late to utilise space and it is never too late to join the multitude of people who enjoy luxurious furniture. If you choose to have our rattan outdoor furniture in your property you are not just investing in a fine piece of craftsmanship, you are also investing in a rejuvenated outdoor living area!

Though our furniture is designed for those days when the weather is behaving itself, it’s comforting to know it can cope when it gets a tad more tempestuous. Our weather resistant rattan furniture is just that – fully capable of maintaining its luxurious quality under the most treacherous of weather conditions.

So how does our rattan cope so well with the elements? Here are the main reasons:

Quick Dry Foam – We use marine-reticulated foam, which is of the highest quality and purpose-built for withstanding all weathers.

Alloy Frames – The frame of the furniture itself is also a superior material, designed to last. The alloy we use is 1.6 – 1.8mm round which is far thicker and more durable than the lesser quality stuff that our competitors use.

Fitting Fixtures – In order to ensure the longevity of your weather resistant rattan furniture, any fixtures or fittings that are exposed to the elements are made from 316 marine-grade stainless steel – which only one of our competitors can boast.

Rattan – The rattan itself makes up the majority of the furniture, or at least the majority of the furniture exposed to the elements! It is a good job then we use only the finest rattan in the world, made by Rehau – a worldwide leader in polymer, and further proof of German engineering excellence. This rattan is up to 5 times more resilient than other fibres and far outweighs cheaper PVC equivalents.

Here at Iola we are extremely proud of a lot of our products, and though we shouldn’t necessarily pick favourites, our sail bed rattan lounger is most definitely one of them! Not only is it a glorious celebration of our rattan craftsmanship, but the inspiration behind the design is pretty fitting too.

The first thing that grabs you about the sail bed rattan lounger is the shape of the thing! Its wondrous curves and sail-like silhouette take inspiration from the great Sydney Opera House – which is probably the most iconic landmark in this part of the world. The bold lines of this piece mean it looks just as good from afar as it does when lounging in it!

That brings us to the next remarkable aspect of this piece of furniture – its versatile mechanisms! The sail bed lounger gets its name from the adjustable ‘sails’ that give you two lounging options: you can leave the sails open to let the sunshine bathe you, or you can close them and enjoy idling in the shade. Whichever option you go with, sitting in the sail bed lounger is an extremely pleasant way to pass the day.

We realise that this lounger is an investment, but it’s one you’ll be glad you made every time you indulge yourself in this beautiful rattan sanctuary. Each bed takes 27 days to construct and really pushes our skilled craftsmen to their limits – you, on the other hand, will get to enjoy this masterpiece for the rest of your peaceful existence. Bliss!

We’re blessed with pretty good weather here in NZ, and as such, there’s a lot of demand for outdoor furniture. That demand is met by thousands of suppliers throughout the country, but if you were to take a good look at the products that these suppliers offer, you’d find a colossal variation in quality.

Now, our industry does have standards, and all rattan furniture manufacturers have to meet certain bare minimums before they can even hit the market. And therein lies the problem: many suppliers will stop at the bare minimum, and this results in cheap, poor-quality merchandise that fails to stand the test of time.

This issue is even more frustrating when those manufacturers use the term ‘luxury furniture’. There are no regulations in place regarding what can and can’t be labelled ‘luxury’, and so genuine luxury furniture (like that available from iola NZ) has to compete with bargain basement ‘luxury furniture’ with the life expectancy of a gnat.

So don’t be fooled by NZ’s numerous snake oil merchants! Read iola NZ’s guide to buying luxury furniture, and know what to look for when you do eventually go shopping!

Everyone wants their living room, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom to look good, but fewer people are prepared to spend time decorating the garden. Putting oodles of effort into an area that's so open to the elements may seem like a fool's errand. but fear not - with so many stunning, weather-resistant outdoor products available nowadays, it's easy to a) make your garden look beautiful, and b) keep it that way.

And if you're looking for weatherproof ways to beautify your garden, you may as well start with the best! Iola's stunning outdoor furniture is specifically designed for open-air use - our rattan products will make your garden feel just as luxurious as your living room, while simultaneously staying strong in the face of bad weather!

If you want to make the most of your home, it's important to start viewing the garden as another room of the house. You can decorate it, personalise it, and cherish it, and whether you turn it into an alfresco dining room or a snug retreat where you can curl up with a good book, the results are sure to be well worth the effort!

Download an Iola NZ catalogue to see the full range of products that we can offer you and your garden!