From Naxos Island to Contemporary Homes: An Outdoor Living Room Expanding the Everyday Landscape
Tables and chaise lounges designed for outdoor living stand quietly against the elements. Exposed to sun, wind and the lingering moisture after rainfall, they resemble miniature works of architecture, relying on enduring materials and structural integrity to respond to both the changing environment and the human body. Much of the intelligence behind their design is subtle rather than overt, revealing itself gradually through weathering and everyday use.
Step through the doors onto a rooftop terrace, where warm daylight and surrounding greenery naturally become part of the interior. A lounge chair paired with a side table is enough to create an outdoor retreat that feels like a second living room. As terraces, sky gardens and courtyard pools become increasingly integrated into contemporary homes, outdoor spaces are no longer merely transitional areas but extensions of everyday living, inviting moments for dining, reading and quiet pause. Such spaces reflect a growing desire to reconnect domestic life with the natural landscape, while encouraging a more open and fluid approach to furnishing the home.
Developed through the collaboration between Baker-McGuire and designer Thomas Pheasant, The Naxos Collection takes its name from the Greek island of Naxos, evoking the quiet atmosphere of Mediterranean living. Tabletops crafted from natural Roman travertine recall the island's whitewashed villages and rugged stone landscape, where shifting daylight animates every surface. Slender silhouettes with sculptural restraint echo the symmetry of ancient Greek temples, while linen upholstery and carefully balanced proportions cultivate the understated elegance of Quiet Luxury, reflecting a lifestyle attuned to the rhythms of nature.
Known for designing and renovating official residences used by the President of the United States, Thomas Pheasant is recognised for translating his observations of landscapes, architecture and culture into furniture that feels both timeless and deeply personal. The collection originated during a journey through Rome, where a visit to Villa Medici inspired its measured proportions and classical sense of order. Terraced gardens, sculptural forms and carefully composed axes became references for the collection's architectural language. Drawing upon the enduring silhouette of the ancient Greek Klismos chair, Pheasant reinterprets its proportions through ergonomic support, lumbar comfort and refined leg profiles to create seating that feels both classical and contemporary.
For Pheasant, the design process extends well beyond the finished object. From the first sketch and prototype to the final collection, he sought to construct a complete visual narrative, incorporating his own travel photography as the backdrop for the campaign imagery. Photographed against the gardens of Vaux-le-Vicomte in France, the collection unfolds with a quiet, dreamlike quality. Throughout The Naxos Collection, outdoor furniture is conceived not simply as an object placed alongside architecture, but as an extension of architectural thinking itself — embracing proportion, materiality and structural clarity. Moving between terrace, garden and living room, these pieces allow transitions between spaces to become a continuous and composed way of living.
