Portofino High Back Lounge Chair

Designed by Jamela Alawneh for Melaaura, the Portofino high back lounge chair carries the full weight of its intentions, unhurried, enveloping, and entirely sure of itself. It is the most architecturally ambitious seat in the Portofino collection, and the one most fully given over to the experience of being enclosed and held by a single outdoor object.

The high back is the piece’s defining gesture, and it is one made with purpose and without hesitation. Where most outdoor lounge chairs stop at the shoulder, the Portofino high back continues upward, wrapping the sitter in a form that feels genuinely sheltering, the kind of quality more readily associated with a wing chair or a well-designed interior armchair than with outdoor seating, and all the more powerful for appearing in the open air. It transforms the act of sitting outside from a posture of exposure into one of composed, considered enclosure.

The construction is consistent with the logic of the entire Portofino collection: continuous lengths of synthetic cord are hand-wound over a powder-coated aluminium frame in a dense, interlocking weave that runs unbroken from the base of the seat to the crown of the backrest, giving the full silhouette a sculptural unity that reads as one resolved object rather than a frame with material applied to it. The surface shifts with the quality of outdoor light across the hours — textured and warm in morning sun, deeper and quieter in shade, lending the chair a subtle visual life that rewards being seated in it for a full afternoon. The cord is engineered for sustained UV and moisture resistance, maintaining its tension, tone, and structural integrity through seasons of outdoor use.

The finish throughout is the collection’s signature warm greige, matte in depth, sun-resistant in composition, and possessed of a quiet richness that neither announces itself nor retreats under direct light. The braided crown edge that closes the top of the backrest is the detail that holds everything together: a moment of artisanal precision that speaks to the hand behind the making and introduces a finishing quality that elevates the piece beyond its material components. The low seat height and deep, generous proportions are entirely deliberate, this is not a chair that holds you upright. It draws you in, encourages a particular quality of stillness, and makes a credible argument that the terrace, the poolside, and the garden loggia deserve the same standard of seating comfort as any well-appointed interior room.

Paired with a tailored cushion in one of Melaaura’s complementary outdoor fabrics, the high back lounge chair moves from structural object to complete sensory experience, woven texture, soft upholstery, and the warmth of open air working together without hierarchy. Deployed singly as an accent piece in a garden corner or by the pool, arranged in pairs flanking the Portofino 2.5-seater sofa, or composed within the full breadth of the Portofino collection, it adapts to its setting while retaining the strong, sheltering character that defines it.

Available in six weave colorways; Sage Green, Black, Natural Honey Teak, Ivory, Dark Brown, and Taupe. Custom sizing available on request.

At Niche Beverly, we carry the Portofino collection as part of our curated selection of the world’s finest luxury outdoor furniture. Visit our Los Angeles showroom or contact us to discuss colorways, cushion options, and lead times for your project.