Wide Open Spaces

BY RAEANNE MARSH

>>> DODAZ al fresco Inc., Scottsdale, Arizona

A patent on furniture? Yes. DODAZ al fresco Inc. principal Teri Mulmed's design for furniture was so unique, she was awarded a patent on it. Two patents, actually.

Feeling that outdoor furniture had too long been neglected, Scottsdale, Arizona–based Mulmed turned her attention there. It was 2001. Affected by 9/11 like many small businesses, she felt the need to diversify beyond being solely an interior designer. And, with people traveling less, she wanted to help create a "vacation" environment for them at home.

Teri Mulmed.

"This furniture is all about reconnection," she says of the DODAZ al fresco design styles, which encourage people to come together and interact with each other. But while that speaks to her personal philosophy, that's not what the patents are for.

For the most part, she observes, outdoor furniture has been all about the frame—wiry mesh, straps or teak. Mulmed wanted something soft, and her DODAZ al fresco furniture features five inches of foam, which is more like traditional cushions. Her patented design is for a framing construction that allows fabric to dry quickly thanks to airflow below the cushions. The design is effective well beyond the boundaries of Arizona's famous "dry heat." She has heard from her test market in New York that her furniture is the first to dry—even in snow and freezing rain.

The Captivating chairs and Ebb ottomans.

Since Mulmed is also, as she says, "on a mission to have people less fearful of color," DODAZ al fresco pieces are usually shown in vibrant colors. However, custom pieces are available in all colors found in the standard Sunbrella fabric book and can also be made with the customer's own material. The powder coating for the aluminum frame is available in a tonal range from soft beige to a primary shade of blue, as well as the extremes of white and black.

"I took inspiration from flowers," Mulmed says of her furniture designs. "Flowers really bring life to a back yard." Translating that observation to her furniture, she found that blues and greens that look vibrant in the fabric book don't jump out as much when placed in a garden setting. Blue, the color of water in a swimming pool, and greens that blend with grasses and trees, become outdoor neutrals. It's actually the pieces in black that will pop against the landscape, she explains.

The Chit-Chat sofa.

There's a hint of that focus on color in the whimsical name Mulmed gave the furniture on which she claimed her first patent, in March 2006: Green with Envy. A versatile and complete conversation arrangement, Green with Envy is composed of four bench-style seats squared around a boxy center piece with cushions that can be removed (and used as floor or poolside cushions). In place, these cushions work as well for seating as for a footrest to serve the seat facing it. Their removal reveals a tiled surface that can be used as a countertop for serving food and drink.

The center of this central piece features an integral drip tray that can be connected to a home's drip system as a planter or fitted with the optional ice tray for outdoor entertaining. Its drain allows it to dry thoroughly, but the drip tray prevents puddling around it.

Styling is contemporary, but not severely so. Says Mulmed, "I'm hypersensitive to how people live; I want everyone to be comfortable." This is why she studied body types before designing the pieces. And the pieces in her Curvaceous collection camouflage specific realities: Women like to curl up, so seats are large enough to accommodate this. Men come in different sizes, so the sofa's flow hides a range of seat sizes that will be comfortable to a range of leg lengths. The pieces are also able to be moved around each other, affording the opportunity to create sculpture "so the eye, too, can enjoy the shapes," says Mulmed.

The Green with Envy collection includes a multi-use table/ottoman.

Last year's winner of the Rising Star Award from Fashion Group International, Phoenix chapter, DODAZ al fresco has also enjoyed a season of Arizona Diamondbacks baseball. Sporting the team's colors and its logo on the furniture end-caps, DODAZ's chairs weathered heavy use as well as the elements poolside at Chase Field, the baseball team's home in downtown Phoenix.

Producing furniture is a far cry from crafting the hair accessories Mulmed once designed and sold at Nordstrom. The love of art is still there, but she can express it through architectural principles learned in her years as principal designer with an architectural firm.

"I'm thrilled to bring a product back to my industry that allows them to provide beauty, creativity and imagination to their clients," says Mulmed, explaining that she designed the furniture so designers could take to the outside the creative vision they began on the inside.

The Bella Vista club chairs.

With partner Tami Romano, whose back yard serves as the company showroom, Mulmed maintains a local manufacturing plant where orders can be filled in six to eight weeks. Mulmed says members of the trade may contact her or Romano directly.

DODAZ al fresco pieces are also available to the public through Robb & Stucky, and its market has expanded to Las Vegas, San Francisco, Denver and Florida.

DODAZ al fresco Inc., 10229 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite E, Scottsdale, AZ; (480) 951-5333 or www.dodazalfresco.com.