Ethimo has introduced Nida, a new dining chair designed by Chiara Andreatti that reinterprets the language of traditional woven chairs for outdoor use. The project takes the simplicity and structural logic of rush-seated chairs, a form with deep roots in everyday domestic furniture, and translates it into a contemporary piece built for durability in exterior settings.
The frame is die-cast aluminum, chosen to keep the silhouette slender and lightweight while still supporting the chair’s more sculptural elements. A semi-circular backrest forms a rounded curve at the top of the chair, while the armrest follows the same curved line naturally, integrating into the frame rather than reading as a separate component. The overall profile stays close to the ground in visual weight despite the structural demands of an outdoor dining chair.
Weave is where the design does most of its work. Nida uses a rope weave that shifts density depending on where it sits on the chair. Across the backrest, the weave stays open, creating a pattern of solids and voids that lets light and air pass through. On the seat, the weave tightens considerably, becoming dense and compact in a way that echoes traditional rush-seated chairs built for daily, practical use. That contrast, open above, dense below, is the chair’s clearest design decision, and it’s what ties the piece back to its stated reference point in vernacular weaving traditions.
Material performance is central to the brief. The rope and aluminum combination is built to withstand outdoor exposure while keeping the chair light enough to move easily around a table, a consideration that matters as much in hospitality and contract settings as in private residential use. Ethimo positions Nida as suited to both contexts, and its scale and proportions are designed to work with tables of varying sizes and styles rather than a single matched set.
Andreatti’s own description of the piece frames it directly: “Nida is a bridge between past and present: understated and poetic, lightweight and grounded, quietly expressing the beauty of craftsmanship reinterpreted through a contemporary lens.”
The chair continues a working relationship between Andreatti and Ethimo that sits within a broader career built on reworking craft traditions into contemporary forms. Andreatti, born near Venice and based in Milan since studying at IED and Domus Academy, has spent more than a decade designing for companies including Cassina, Glas Italia, Lema, Potocco, and Gebrüder Thonet Vienna, where her Loïe lounge chair won the IF Design Award in 2019. Her work consistently returns to a similar premise: taking a craft reference, whether Venetian glass, woven textiles, or in this case rush seating, and resolving it through industrial materials suited to contemporary production.
Ethimo’s outdoor collection has followed a similar pattern of designer collaborations built around material research, working with names including Cristina Celestino, Paola Navone, Luca Nichetto, and Studiopepe. Nida sits within that same design language, using a recognizable craft reference as its starting point rather than an applied decorative motif.
