Francesco Rota Creates an Imaginative Swinging Platform for Paola Lenti

Shibui means unobtrusive beauty in Japanese, and this suspended perch lives up to that moniker. Winner of Interior Design‘s Best of Year Outdoor Seating category, the airborne platform by Italian interior and product designer Francesco Rota for Paola Lenti is made of minimally treated bamboo poles conjoined with jute straps to form a flat, no-frills seat—think a raft cobbled together by an intrepid adventurer. Stainless-steel cables, clamps, and carabiners secure the swing to a ceiling or a beam. For comfort, add a polyurethane-foam seat pad or a quilt padded with paineira vegetable fiber and upholstered in linen or hemp fabric. For those who prefer to keep their feet on terra firma, there’s also a daybed option propped on steel legs. Through West | Out East.