teak outdoor furniture
grey or honey brown

Teak left outside turns silver-grey, and teak oiled twice a year stays honey brown. Both last the same. This guide covers the choice and the care, on two Tribù collections.

Teak outdoor furniture asks you one question in its first summer: grey or brown. Tribù, a Belgian family house founded in 1966, has built its catalog around plantation teak from ethical sources since the nineties, from sources it can name. Two of its teak collections show the choice well: Kos by Studio Segers and Ukiyo by Monica Armani.

Know why teak can stay outside

Teak carries its own oils. The wood makes its own water repellent, so it needs no sealer to survive rain. Under the surface sits dense heartwood, where teak gets its weight and its resistance to rot. Salt air does not attack it, which makes a beach house fair ground for teak frames.

Choose the color you want to live with

Left bare, teak turns silver-grey through its first season outside, and the change stops at the top fraction of a millimeter. Oiled twice a year, it keeps the honey tone it ships in. Neither path changes the life of the wood, so you decide by what you want to look at.

Climate shifts the work a little. Dry desert air pulls moisture out of teak faster, and a wipe of oil goes further in Phoenix than it does in Connecticut. On a shaded terrace in a wet climate, the grey comes on at its own pace and asks for no work.

Kos: broad slats, plain lines

Studio Segers built Kos from wide teak slats, where most garden furniture uses thin battens. The seating angle came first and the shape followed. Broad boards put more wood under you, so you stand up after an hour without slat marks on your legs. Five pieces cover an outdoor room: an armchair and a dining table for meals, a bar chair for a counter-height island, and a lounge chair and a lounger for the pool. Kos needs no cushion, so after a storm you wipe the slats and sit down. See the Kos collection.

Ukiyo: teak drawn in curves

Monica Armani came back from Japan with the line work of its temples and its writing in her head, and drew Ukiyo from it. The teak frames curve where you expect a straight run. On the armchair the top of the back splits into two thin rails with a gap between them. That gap costs money in joinery and keeps the chair light to look at. Ukiyo sits you on slatted teak, so a chair left out in a shower is usable again once the rain stops. Five pieces: an armchair, a lounge chair, a lounger, a dining table and a low table. See the Ukiyo collection.

Clean it with a soft brush

Care is soap, water and a soft brush. Skip the pressure washer. It tears the soft grain out from between the harder rings and leaves the surface furry. If the grey has gone patchy, a light sanding evens it out. A glass that leaves a ring on a dining table comes out with a light sanding too, and you re-oil the patch if you keep the wood brown. Rinse pollen off before it sets into the grain.

Ukiyo cushions lift off in one movement. Stand them on edge after rain, wash the covers to the label and bring them inside for winter. The teak underneath stays out in any season.

Tell us where your terrace sits and which color you want to keep through the form below. We reply with Kos or Ukiyo pieces, free teak samples and a price for each. Tribù builds to order, and we confirm the lead time with the quote.