Minnesota may be known by most of the country for its deep snow and frigid cold, but it’s also the land of 10,000 lakes that come back alive in the spring. The summers are lush and green and gorgeous and especially at many of the popular lakes areas in north central Minnesota. One such hot summer day last year I was driving along a small cabin-filled road near the small town of Nisswa when I spotted the quintessential discarded cabin furniture out on the road with a FREE sign. As I unconsciously slowed the car while simultaneously screwing my neck towards the errant sofa (and to my wife’s chagrin) I was pulling the car over to have a closer look. Nestled along the road was a chipped-up wood sofa with lumpy and saggy yellow floral patterned cushions.
“Are you kidding me!”
... exclaimed my wife as I was hopping out of the car for a closer look. The cushions didn’t catch my eye but the wood frame sure did. A lot of us midcentury furniture lovers fantasize about situations like this; when someone who doesn’t realize what they have puts a classic piece of furniture out at the road. Well, this wasn’t quite that exactly as you probably wouldn’t have reused this particular sofa, and it wasn’t a Herman Miller piece, but the design is what intrigued me. The large one-piece front frame plate that comes up to support the arms and the wider arms themselves are just classic cabin furniture with a distinctly modern twist, and the entire piece was floating on a recessed plinth. I snapped some quick photos and got back into the car.“You are not coming back for that junk,”
... she said earnestly.“I know, I don’t have a truck,”
... I said with a big wide smile of glee that comes with the unexpected discovery of cool vintage furniture.
About a year later we were looking for inspiration for an outdoor sofa and I recalled the piece I had seen along that winding lakeside road. Showing it to the design team at Loll (Jeff, Nate, and Myself) we all thought we could recreate it in Loll fashion with our plastic and updated cushions and fabric. So we did.
We named the Loll version after the town where I first saw the sofa; Nisswa. The collection conveys the spirit of screen porches on hot summer afternoons and tree shaded decks overlooking sky blue lakes. It’s made with our durable 100% recycled plastic and outdoor industry standard Sunbrella fabric on the cushions. Entirely made in the USA, the Loll Nisswa sofa, chair and ottoman will work inside or out. We brought this piece back from the brink of cabin death. All you will need is some friends and family to bring it to life.
