Danish brand HAY has inspired community through designs that are meant to be lived in, lounged in, and experienced with others. Bringing a fresh perspective on everyday objects, HAY brings a sense of utility, playfulness, and a unique vision of color in everything from furniture to accessories. This season, the brand has introduced new outdoor designs to enliven moments spent outside.
The Mousqueton Portable Lamp by French designer Inga Sempé is one of HAY’s latest additions to its collection of modern lighting. As its name suggests — since the word “mousqueton” is French for “carabiner” — this dynamic lamp emphasizes flexibility. Designed for indoor or outdoor use, it features a hook that allows the lamp to be hung in a variety of ways. Taking inspiration from utilitarian camping gear, this weatherproof lamp has a robust zinc alloy base and powder-coated steel shade in a variety of color options. It is also supplied with a high-quality, long-lasting battery for maximum usage no matter the adventure.
“My main idea was to create the light you take outside to the garden in the summer,” says Sempé. “It should be an invaluable object you can forget outside because it’s as solid as the wind and the rain. And the carabiner means you can hang it from a tree branch, or a cord. It’s a lamp for all of the happy, easy moments — even when you didn’t come prepared.” HAY also introduces the Crate Collection, relaunched in collaboration with Rietveld Originals. Marrying timelessness with functionality, this iconic collection dates back to 1934, when trailblazing Dutch architect and designer Gerrit Rietveld made a simple chair using surplus wooden shipping crates.
Today, the Crate Collection showcases the same graceful proportions, precise angles, and appreciation for simplicity as the original design. Comprised of a lounge chair, a dining chair, a coffee table, and a side table, the collection has been updated in solid pine in a variety of finishes — Black, White, Iron Red, and a grey tone called London Fog — that are designed to be mixed and matched. “The Crate Chair is a wonderful example of a product designed by an architect who was seeking harmony between architecture and interior,” says Rolf Hay, co-founder and creative director of HAY. “It’s hard to imagine something which is closer to our core design values because it was really Rietveld’s mission to create a super cool, affordable, open-source furniture range for everybody — taking an incredibly democratic approach to design, which of course fits HAY extremely well.”
Designed by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for HAY, another inviting outdoor array, the Palissade Collection, has debuted a new rich Iron Red color. The Palissade set is a collection of outdoor furniture finished in a weatherproof, powder-coated steel. Each piece is characterized by its geometric configuration, as the collection was created with simplicity and symmetry in mind. The collection offers a café set, a dining bench set, and a dining set with four side chairs.
Just in time for gatherings under the sun comes the new Weekday Collection. Designed by Swiss duo Hannes Breuer and Fritz Gräber of Hannes & Fritz, the collection was born from the need for more seating at a dinner party. They quickly created an impromptu solution that was later refined into Weekday: a collection of tables and seating that evokes the familiar warmth of bringing people together outside. Each piece is crafted from strong, weather-resistant pine planks in a variety of colors, including forest green, navy blue, light blue, red, and natural wood. Rolf Hay expanded on the sense of kinship that Weekday inspires, expressing that, “Weekday is a product that feels like it has a purpose, that purpose being community, friendship, and sharing,” he continues, “We chose solid pine because we wanted it to be extremely durable, for every purpose in life — you can sit, stand, or even dance on these tables or benches. But there is also something very friendly about them: the way the legs meet the planks that sit on them, and their softly rounded edge, creates a beautiful, gentle meeting between the two elements. I think this gives the collection a friendly aesthetic that really mirrors its intended use.”
Check out the full Weekday, Palissade, and Crate Collection, as well as accessories like the Mousqueton Portable Lamp, and more, on hay.com.
