How Far Into the Wild Can Hay’s Outdoors Gear Actually Take You?

It’s been almost a decade since "gorpcore" was coined by New York Magazine writer Jason Chen. In the nine years since, what was once a notable presence of parkas and hiking shoes on stylish people has since become standard fare in the fashion-forward person’s wardrobe. The past year’s major spike in Arc'teryx beanies on city streets across the globe, a trend that can be traced to Frank Ocean’s toque at Paris Fashion Week in 2019, should be ample proof. Just as the sartorial side of life out in the wild has hung around in the years since, the hunger for outdoor spaces that rose with the onset of the pandemic has stayed put too. Long past lockdown, people are still just as antsy to spend time in nature, even if the lack of grass-touching time in urban life hadn’t bothered them much pre-quarantine.

The convergence of these two truths has led, naturally, to a hunger for stylish camping gear beyond the wardrobe. Last year, The North Face collaborated with Bialetti on a Moka Pot set that’s built for the outdoors.
Japanese brand Snow Peak has benefited in particular from this strong appetite in how it centers perfectly in gorpcore’s Venn diagram of function and style. Obsessives are so into it that they’re even swapping out regular home furnishings for their campsite gear, per one Reddit thread where a group of users chime in about what pieces they have permanently in their living spaces. Slightly more incognito than the gear documented on this thread, the brand’s $65 camping cushion gained popularity for living room lounging in 2020, easily passing as a regular floor cushion among its disciples’s other high-design furnishings.

It is into this Nalgene-happy culture that HAY has launched its latest collection, a group of 30 campsite-friendly pieces by British designer Jasper Morrison. The items are sort of the inverse of what Snow Peak offers: if putting a Snow Peak cushion in your home is bringing the outdoors in, HAY’s gear brings an indoors aesthetic outside. The grouping includes packable furniture in addition to small pieces, like a barbecue fish grill and handy steel plates and bowls. Developed with HAY founders Mette and Rolf Hay, Morrison worked to present his take on the most essential gear you’d need as you set out for an outdoor adventure.

The collection began with just one piece—the steel barbecue, which Morrison was trying to develop for sale in his own shop in London. He was basing the conical design on an old terra-cotta sardine grill he admired, but iterations kept breaking. His emphasis on durability is what led him to the stainless steel it’s now produced with. The heightened emphasis on practicality in the gear space is what made this collection particularly exciting for Morrison. "It’s a fantastic area of products that have to be so lean and efficient," Morrison tells me. Rolf agrees. "There is an energy in approaching something you haven’t been doing before," he says. "There's a lot to learn, and there are some safety issues you need to deal with. There are a lot of practical issues on selecting the right materials. I always find that inspiring."

Sturdy as they may be, the collection’s chairs are also much more pleasant to look at than the typical flimsy-looking, though efficient, ones you’d find at your local Bass Pro Shops. Morrison based the form of the chair design on classic camp chairs, similar to those used by the British Army. When unfolded, the beech and steel frame holds striped polyester fabric taut. The particular fabric was inspired by a vintage Basque patterned fabric that Morrison found at a flea market.

Though the pieces are designed to hold up on a proper camping trip, to Morrison and the Hays, it’s just as important that people can easily deploy them to catch moments of sunlight at a local park, up on their rooftop, or just in a backyard. "I love having outdoor space at home, being able to set something up on a terrace right when that moment comes," Morrison says. For Rolf, the pieces are intended to help his customers take better advantage of fresh air, wherever that may be. "I consider it an open invitation to get outside," he says. As is the case with gorpcore, you needn’t descend deep into the woods to find something to appreciate in these pieces.

Related Reading:

The $65 Japanese Camping Cushion Taking Over Stylish City Apartments