“I remember the first time I met Kirt Martin and the other Landscape Forms folks—it was a cinematic, eyes-meeting-across-the-room type of moment,” recalls Greg Benson, Loll Designs Founder and CEO, with a laugh. “I recognized them at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair after years of admiring Landscape Forms' work in landscape architecture magazines. We hit it off, I was honored to find that they were fans of ours, too. The rest is history."

Collaboration with artists, designers, and other creative professionals is key to Landscape Forms’ diverse and influential offering, and when working with like-minded partners, the power of cooperation becomes even more evident. A passion for design-forward products realized through sustainability-focused solutions brings the two companies together, fueling the creative fire and serving to inspire new ways to help people to enjoy the outdoors.

“Some of the best inspiration comes where you least expect it," says Landscape Forms Chief Creative Officer, Kirt Martin. “When we first decided to partner with Loll, I remember walking into their conference room to discuss some ideas, and I became fixated on the conference table itself. It was a large-scale, one-off piece made from Loll’s signature post-consumer recycled plastic. It was just for internal use, but I immediately knew this was ‘it’ -- Landscape Forms needed something like that in its repertoire.” This moment of inspiration would eventually lead to Landscape Forms’ first collaboration with Loll Designs, the immensely popular Harvest table.

Of course, Harvest is much more than a repurposed conference table, and the process of getting it into production was a true collab-oration with Loll. Landscape Forms drew on its expertise in lighting technology and metal manufacturing to develop two of Har-vest’s trademark characteristics—the central, mood-setting lighting feature and the robust, element-resistant metal understructure. Similarly, Loll drew on its expertise in recycled plastics, its fun-loving design sensibilities, and its vibrant color palette to help in-corporate a completely new visual and material identity into Landscape Forms’ offering.

Following the success of Harvest table, Landscape Forms joined with Loll again in 2020 to expand the Harvest lineup as well as introduce two new products, Americana and Glide. Americana is Landscape Forms' take on the Adirondack chair, reimagined for improved comfort, increased durability and added visual intrigue. Both wider and taller than its traditional counterpart, Americana offers a wider range of seating positions, and easier ingress and egress. “The Adirondack chair is near and dear to our hearts at Loll since our twist on it was our debut product back in 2006,” says Greg Benson. “It’s a symbol of comfort, relaxation, and the appreciation of the outdoors—all concepts that both we and Landscape Forms communicate in our work. I’m so proud of the way Americana turned out, and I can’t wait to see it in outdoor public spaces near me.”

Glide is a backed bench that combines senses of innovation and restraint in design. The form of the bench—the way the seat and back seamlessly join the metal base with no visible screws—is simultaneously minimal and refined yet unlike any other bench Landscape Forms has previously created. “The Glide bench specifically provided an interesting design challenge for us,” recalls Kirt Martin. "It’s hard to design for both simplicity and also differentiation, but I’m so pleased with the solution that arose from the col-laboration between both design teams. The way we connected the bench to the back gives it a unique gesture that is simple and ele-gant while simultaneously being like nothing anyone has seen before.” Like Harvest, both Americana and Glide utilize a combina-tion of Loll’s UV-resistant 100% post-consumer recycled plastic (HDPE) and Landscape Forms’ Pangard II® powdercoated chip-and-fade-resistant metal to ensure a long, happy life outdoors.

“Our cultures and values align—we both embrace design, culture, and craft; we’re both driven by a commitment to sustainability; and we always have fun working together to develop innovative products. Our collaborations work so well because each company brings unique skills to the table,"  concludes Kirt Martin. "We complement Loll with our lighting technology and metal manufacturing knowledge and processes, and they complement us with their knowledge of recycled plastic technologies and their fresh take on design for the outdoors. I’m really excited to see where this partnership will take us in the future, both in continuing to build out the Harvest line and in introducing more new products like Americana and Glide.”