Botton + Gardiner, Australia’s leading outdoor commercial furniture designer and manufacturer is launching into the North American market with a host of innovative products that strike the perfect balance between furniture that is tough enough to handle the elements and stylish enough to complement any outdoor space or campus.
Aussie know-how
Botton + Gardiner has nearly 30 years of experience providing outdoor furniture in Australia - a country with some of the harshest sun and salt conditions in the world and a culture that lives, works and studies outdoors, so they understand how to make beautifully designed outdoor furniture that lasts.
The brand is part of the Baresque Group, an Australian company with over 100 employees across 8 sites around the world including the USA. It’s a market they understand, having already established their acoustic brand Zintra, and progressive screening brand func. there.
Angus Blaiklock, Executive Director of the Baresque Group, has lived in the USA for several years, and has spearheaded the brand’s expansion into the USA. “The USA is such an amazing country, it’s so welcoming of Australians. The markets aren’t identical, but there are a lot of similarities. Those similarities, and the fact that we already operate 2 brands here made expanding Botton + Gardiner into the USA an easy decision.”
Industry knowledge
Industry veteran Jamie May, who has more than 20 years experience in the commercial interior and exterior furniture space, has also joined the company to head up North American sales. May believes there’s great opportunity for the brand and industry post-COVID, with technology enabling people to work anywhere, including the outdoors.
“The outdoor world is untapped,” he said. “More and more people want to be outside; they want to work in different places, but they don’t have the right amenities for it. Designers have had few options. They are specifying outdoor furniture (that isn't) designed for use in public spaces. So having these products from Botton + Gardiner that fit these spaces so perfectly is a game changer.”
Public space and outdoor work are areas that are growing in importance too when it comes to wellbeing. A study published last year in the journal “Frontiers in Psychology” found that outdoor work activities were associated with many positive experiences: by contributing to a sense of well-being, recovery, autonomy, enhanced cognition, better communication, and social relations.
Sustainable approach
The company believes in protecting the environment and part of that strategy includes making its products close to its projects with manufacturing now established in Dallas. It reduces their carbon footprint, ensures quality, and slashes shipping time.
Botton + Gardiner also uses environmentally friendly materials including hardwoods that are certified by the Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), and locally sourced steel and aluminum. Its powder-coating process emits no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and has Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) that allow projects to qualify for LEED credits. All products are also backed by a 5-year warranty.
ASLA showcase
Botton + Gardiner has already taken its first orders and attended the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) National Event in San Francisco in November 11-14 2022.