Ask ten people to picture an Italian sofa and most will describe the same thing: deep seats, soft arms, a fabric you want to touch. RODA, the outdoor furniture maker from Lake Varese, builds that sofa for a terrace. RODA outdoor furniture uses the living room shape and changes what sits under the fabric, so the sofa can stay out through a summer of storms.
Start with the frame you can't see
An indoor sofa hides a wooden frame, springs and glued foam. Put it on a patio and the wood swells, the springs rust and the foam holds water for days. RODA swaps all three.
The frame of RODA Dandy is aluminum strung with elastic straps. Aluminum doesn't rust, so a sofa on a coastal deck or next to a pool keeps its frame for years. The straps give the seat the bounce you expect from springs and dry fast in the sun.
Foam that lets the rain through
Dandy layers three kinds of polyurethane inside a 3D net. RODA calls the result hydro-draining padding: water runs down through the cushion and out the bottom, and air moves through the net behind it. After a downpour the water leaves the seat, and it dries soon after the sun comes back.
Check for this on any sofa you plan to leave outside. Ask the seller what happens to a cushion after an hour of rain. A dense indoor foam will still be wet the next morning.
Inside the sofa
Four layers under a RODA cushion
- Dandy
- 3seat modules to combine
- 4backrest lengths
- 3polyurethane layers in a 3D net
- 20RODA cover fabrics
- 14 1/8inch seat height
Covers that come off
Both Dandy and RODA Mamba fasten their covers to the frame with Velcro strips. You pull them off for the washing machine or the dry cleaner, and in November you store them in a dry closet while the frames stay out. A few years later you can order a new color and keep the sofa.
RODA offers twenty cover fabrics for Dandy, among them Oxford, Loom and Riva, and the company works with Missoni on outdoor textiles. Pick the fabric with the swatch in your hand and in your own light. A sand cover under a pergola looks warmer than the same sand on a white deck at noon.
Pick the system that fits your floor
Dandy works as a kit. Three seat modules, four backrest lengths and one low armrest build straight sofas or an L with a chaise longue. A seat module with no backrest turns into a big pouf, handy in front of a fire pit where people face two ways.
Mamba solves a different floor. Rodolfo Dordoni gave it two straight seats and two five-sided corner seats, so the sofa can bend at an open angle or wander along a deck that has no square corner. The seats stand on small round feet that almost vanish, and the backs lean back to open the angle with the seat.
Draw your terrace before you choose. Mark the doors, the path to the garden and the spot where the evening sun lands. Straight walls and square corners point to Dandy. A rounded pool edge or a roof terrace with angled walls points to Mamba.
Side by side
Dandy or Mamba for your terrace
| Question | RODA Dandy | RODA Mamba |
|---|---|---|
| Shape of the terrace | Straight walls, square corners | Odd angles, curved edges, open decks |
| Seat parts | Three-seater, two-seater, chaise longue module | Two straight seats, right and left pentagon |
| Backrests | Four lengths plus a low armrest | Two lengths, about 31 1/2 and 52 3/4 in |
| Frame | Aluminum with elastic straps | Aluminum in smoke on small round feet |
| Covers | Removable, fastened with Velcro | Removable, fastened with Velcro |
| Seat height | 14 1/8 in | About 13 3/8 in to the seat base |
Sit low, sit long
Both sofas sit low. Dandy's seat is 14 1/8 inches off the floor and Mamba's seat base about 13 3/8 inches, well under a dining chair. You lean back, put your feet up and stay for the evening. Older guests may want one higher chair nearby, and a coffee table at about the height of the seat keeps a glass within reach.
Send us a sketch of your terrace with rough measurements through the form below. We answer with a Dandy or Mamba layout, the fabric options and a written price for each module.
