Sudell - Melbourne-based outdoor furniture design

Sudell's 'Tablecloth' table - powder coated laser-cut steel, available in white, red, blue, green and grey.

Tina Sudell is a NZ-born, UK-trained, Melbourne-based Garden and Outdoor Furniture designer! Tina's first venture into outdoor furniture design was her 'Tablecloth' table, launched at Melbourne's fringe furniture exhibition in 2007. Since then Tina has been gradually developing this branch of her business. She's currently in the process of designing new work to add to the range.

Tina's concept for Sudell is to develop outdoor furniture that will physically withstand the test of time in the outdoors, whilst maintaining 'artistic flair, colour and passion', and a sense of timelessness in their design. "Big dreams but a long way to go" she says! I think she's well on her way :) In the the long term, Tina hopes to collaborate with others to add variety to her range and achieve these goals.

Tina Says -
My foray into furniture design came about by accident really. It was suggested to me and at the time I thought - "noooo that's not my skill" but the seed was sewn. I was looking around for a piece of furniture for a client and couldn't find anything that met my requirements. It was then that I realized there was potential there for something new. I found that there was a lot of wood, a lot of not so nicely designed but very cheap furniture from China and some lovely but very expensive designer outdoor furniture. There wasn't a lot of colour, a lot vibrancy or anything particularly interesting. So I decided to take the plunge.

I couldn't agree more with Tina about the lack of well-designed, reasonably-priced outdoor furniture on the market! Of course I love the work of the big names like Patricia Urquiola... but I really don't have the budget to fill my garden with that stunning Canasta furniture range! I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes next from Tina Sudell!

In Melbourne Tina's work is sold through Kif & Katast in Prahran. Sudell will be exhibiting new work at Design Made Trade in Melbourne in July. Tina also has a blog here.