A few weeks ago I was shopping with my wife, an interior designer, in a furniture shop in Sydney's Paddington. Like a lot of guys, I plonked myself down on a chair while she browsed. After a few minutes I realised that it wasn't an indoor chair I was sitting on, but a stylish piece of outdoor furniture.
The label stated that it was manufactured by a German company called Dedon. After a conversation with a sales executive, several trips to a German website and numerous conversations with the furniture distributor, I discovered that I had tripped over a range of very smart outdoor furniture that had little, if any, exposure in Australia and was manufactured by a company that had a very unusual pedigree.
Dedon was established by no other than Bobby Dekeyser, a former European soccer star who played for the German team Bayern-Munchen. In 1990, after a freak soccer accident, Dekeyser turned to a family company for inspiration.
The company's birthright is wrapped around a synthetic fabric called ‘Hularo' that was being manufactured by Dekeyser's grandfather in 1990. The young soccer star took the fabric and applied it to furniture.
Bobby Dekeyser then built around him a team of individuals who were able to capture the look and feel of traditional furniture from countries like India, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia. Dekeyser's new range was based on furniture that in the past had been manufactured with cane and rattan.
Dekeyser produced his look-alike furniture using his unique and highly durable synthetic fabric that's totally weatherproof, colour fast and environmentally friendly.
Today he employs weavers from around the world to replicate designs.
"Our goal is to develop and manufacture the most beautiful and most comfortable outdoor furniture in the world," says Bobby Dekeyser. Weatherproof and hand-woven – each piece is unique and has its place outside on the terrace, as well as in the living room."
He claims, "Our philosophy is to achieve harmony between nature and our work because it takes a satisfied man to find a comfortable chair."
