Dauphin’s Little Perillo, Reimagined—and Greener Than Ever

Highly functional indoors or out, lightweight, tiny, and oh-so cute, Dauphin’s reimagining of its classic Perillo chair had me at first sight. Little Perillo ECO wins with its curved, continuous thermoplastic sheet form, refreshing color palette, and environmentally minded makeup—crafted largely from recycled post-consumer plastic, including household waste.

Created in 2009 by German designer Martin Ballendat and a Red Dot Design Award winner, the original Perillo lounge chair leans more substantial, with lush leather upholstery and refined backstitched detailing, which works well in C-suite  and residential interiors. A beauty, yes. But with limited applications. And there’s nothing wrong with reinventing an icon.

“The Little Perillo and Little Perillo XS were created to bring the flowing design language of the iconic Perillo lounge chair to other settings such as hospitality/restaurant, outdoor spaces, and other multi-purpose applications,” says Chuck Heckman, EVP of marketing & technology at Dauphin.

Similar in form but scaled down, the smaller versions (updated in 2024) feel right at home in more informal settings. Now, Dauphin brings to the U.S. the ECO iteration, which previously had been available in Europe under the Züco brand. Made predominantly from recycled plastic, Little Perillo ECO pushes the design further, proving sustainability is no longer an afterthought but baked into the product DNA. Plastic is broken down into raw granules, tinted in soft pastel tones, then formed under heat and pressure into a sinuous shell. Curves are always sexy, right!? Plus, at the end of its life span, the chair is fully recyclable.

Little Perillo ECO comes in six configurations—including a tapered four-leg base, a swivel with seat cushion, and a counter chair—and six soft, gelato-inspired hues, such as Tender Green, Peach Cream, and Phlox Yellow. As Chuck notes, the palette is partly driven by the recycled material itself, but the effect is clear: fresh, calm, and easy to live with. And it just works.

—Danine Alati