You don’t have to look too hard at this year’s SOLEX to discover that more and more suppliers are turning to alternatives to wood for the manufacture of outdoor furniture.

First we featured a furniture collection by Supremo made from a compound, called Resysta, based on rice husks.

Then we spotted a new range of furniture on the Daro stand made from another re-cycled waste product called Stonewood. Yes, it’s made of powdered stone – waste material from the quarrying industry – which is moulded at high pressure and laminated on to steel frames to produce a striking range of chunky tables, benches and stools. The moulds used are created from real timber cuts, for truly authentic surface detail and texture that has to be seen to be believed. Half close your eyes and you could pretty much be looking at the real thing!  “We had to put these signs drawing attention to the material on the display, otherwise visitors would probably have assumed it was just wood,” said Daro director James Brown.

Daro have been working on the material’s development for more than a year, after searching for an alternative not just to wood but to glass, a popular but increasingly expensive (not to mention brittle) tabletop material. Stonewood appears to tick all the boxes – strong, sustainable,good looking…and distinctive.