New York 2016: San Francisco studio Galanter & Jones has claimed to be the first to create cast-stone heated outdoor furniture, which makes a sitter feel "like being in a hot tub without getting wet" (+ slideshow).

Brother and sister duo Aaron and Miranda Jones designed the range of seats to replace outdoor heat lamps, which they said don't do a good job of keeping people warm.

The outdoor furniture warms the sitter by raising their core temperature, like underfloor heating, instead of emitting heat into the air.

"When you are sitting in our pieces, you are getting the warmth directly," Miranda Jones told Dezeen. "It is warming your core and blood so that your entire body stays warm."

The chairs are formed from a high-tech concrete, using moulds hand made by Aaron to create smooth ergonomic shapes.

Electric heating elements embedded within the shells radiate through the material to gently warm the sitters' back, bottom and upper legs.

The duo compare the sensation to "a river rock that has been toasting in the sun" and "like being in a hot tub without getting wet".

The chairs plug into standard power outlets, and the temperature can be controlled with by a thermostat and an on/off switch.

Galanter & Jones' collection includes a variety of models. The Evia design comes as an armchair and lounge version, both with sloped backs supported by square frames.

Helio benches and lounge chairs feature single curved shells that slope down at the sides into the seat, while the Cross chair is shaped like a bowl. Each is available in a range of colour options.

Galanter & Jones was founded in 2012, and the studio produces all of its furniture in California.

The designs were presented at this year's ICFF fair in New York, which took place at the Jacob Javits convention centre from 13 to 17 May 2016.

Also at the event, VUUE launched a collection of furniture designed for both indoor and outdoor spaces, and Apparatus showed new marble and brass furniture and lighting. Dezeen rounded up eight of the best lighting designs at the fair.

Other outdoor furniture collections launched this year include Ineke Hans' table and pair of benches that fit neatly together for storage, and Thonet's range of classic chairs by Mart Stam, Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.