An outdoor dining set built around the table

An outdoor dining set lives or dies by the table. Chairs can move, borrow and multiply; the table fixes the number of guests and the shape of the floor around it. Poliform, the house from Inverigo in Brianza, makes two tables for the terrace, both by Emmanuel Gallina. Choose between them first and the rest of the set follows.

Henry: the indoor table, rebuilt for rain

Gallina drew Poliform Henry in 2019 as a large extendable dining table in solid wood. In 2025 he rebuilt it for outdoor use in aluminium and teak. The change goes through the whole piece, far past a coat of varnish, and the outline stays the same.

That matters in a house where the dining room opens onto a terrace. You can run the wooden Henry inside and the outdoor Henry outside, and through the glass door the two read as a pair. A Henry sun bed in the same aluminium and teak completes the look on a pool deck. See the Henry collection.

Teak turns silver grey in the sun if you leave it alone, which most owners like. Oil it twice a season if you prefer the honey tone.

Curve: a table from a family of chairs

Poliform Curve is Gallina's widest family, a chair, an armchair, a bed, a dining table and stools, all built on one bent line of solid wood. The indoor table carries a wood or marble top on a wooden crosspiece. The Curve outdoor table takes the family outside with rope details and lines borrowed from boats. See the Curve collection.

Pick Curve if the terrace should feel like a deck on a yacht. Pick Henry if it should feel like the dining room with the roof taken off.

Size the table to your guests

Give every guest 24 to 30 inches along the table edge. A guest needs about three feet behind the chair to push back and stand, and people walking past need about three feet more. On a narrow terrace those allowances, more than the table itself, decide how many guests you can seat.

Count the people who eat outside on an ordinary evening and size for them. For a larger party, add a second table or bring chairs from inside for the night.

The chairs

The outdoor list on this site holds tables, lounge seating and loungers, and no outdoor dining chair. We prefer to say so up front. The factory adds pieces to its outdoor range, so ask us and we will check the current list before we quote.

Until then, a covered terrace gives you more room to choose. Under a roof, solid wood chairs from the indoor range can come out for a summer dinner and go back in afterwards. On an open deck, keep upholstered indoor chairs indoors: rain soaks padding and a wet cushion takes days to dry.

A set, and a corner beside it

A dining table on a terrace looks better with a place to sit low nearby. A Crew ceramic coffee table with a pair of Mad Out armchairs gives guests somewhere to go with a glass before dinner, and it frees the table for plates. Keep a path of about three feet between the two groups.

Send us the floor

Measure the floor you have for dining and mark the door from the kitchen. Count your usual guests and your party guests. Decide whether the table stands under a roof or in the open, since that changes the finish we propose.

Send those numbers through the form at the foot of the page, and a photograph of the terrace if you have one. We reply with the table size that fits, the finishes on offer and a written price for Henry, Curve or both.