Armchair STRESA 001

A Design That Doesn’t Try Too Hard

Piero Lissoni designed the Stresa collection around restraint. The dining chair with arms carries that same logic — balanced proportions, clean lines, nothing added for effect. The perforated sheet backrest, detailed with a small diamond pattern, gives the piece visual lightness without making it feel insubstantial. It’s the kind of detail you notice after sitting with the chair for a while, not the moment you walk in.

The slatted base structure keeps the overall silhouette open and airy. And the result is a chair that fits without forcing itself into a space.

Built from One Material, Done Well

The entire frame is powder-coated aluminum. That’s a deliberate choice — aluminum is light enough to move around easily, strong enough to hold up outdoors, and fully recyclable. The powder coating comes in a Smoke finish, which sits somewhere between warm and neutral. It works with a lot of things without being generic.

There’s no wood, no wicker, no mixed-material construction to maintain. Just one material handled consistently throughout the collection.

Comfort That Works in the Real World

The seat height sits at 17 3/8 inches without a cushion, 19 3/4 inches with one. The cushions themselves are hydro-draining, meaning water moves through rather than sitting in the fabric. For an outdoor dining chair, that matters more than it sounds — no waiting for cushions to dry before you can use them again.

The chair measures 25 1/4 inches wide, 27 1/2 inches deep, and 32 1/4 inches tall, with an arm height of 26 inches. Proportions that feel considered, not oversized.

Where It Belongs

Roda positioned Stresa to move across different contexts — private homes, contract dining, Mediterranean terraces, urban rooftops. The dining chair holds up in all of them. It doesn’t read as strictly residential or strictly commercial. But it probably looks best somewhere with good light and a table worth sitting at.

The collection pairs with Stresa dining tables in two sizes, so building a complete outdoor dining setup within the same design language is straightforward.

How It Holds Up Over Time

Aluminum doesn’t rust. The powder-coat finish is built for outdoor exposure. The hydro-draining cushions are available across a wide range of fabric covers — Allegro, Bouquet, Dew, Eco, Fine, King, Loom, Medley, Oxford, Park, Point, Queen, Scala, Soft, and Shore — so replacing or refreshing them later is an option. This is a chair designed to stay in use, not to be replaced every few seasons.