The Metal Embroidered Chair is a minimalist chair by the Brooklyn-based designer, Jenna Graziano. Pairing blackened steel with opalescent freshwater pearls, this piece of sculptural furniture marries function with ornament through its straightforward form and simple, yet mesmerizing detailing. 

To create this piece, sheets of steel are cut, bent, and joined together through welding and hand-set rivets to form the chair’s base and to provide structural integrity. Graziano then darkens the steel with a combination of patina and torchwork, and adds a final coat of wax to give the material its sleek, black appearance. Hundreds of minuscule holes are then cut into the metal base, allowing the pearls to be “embroidered” onto the chair using clear fishing wire.

The Metal Embroidered Chair is both refined and romantic. Its geometric seat and legs play against an elegant, scalloped-edge back, while luminous, dainty pearls soften the industrial steel. It embodies Graziano’s signature combination of delicacy with durability and her reverence for the act of making.

“This piece felt really good to make,” shares Graziano. “I’m drawn to repetitive processes, and I find a lot of satisfaction in spending uninterrupted time in the studio. I would spend days just sewing each pearl, and it brought me to a meditative state where everything else just melted away. In that sense, this work is a personal exploration—an attempt to center my practice around the kind of making that grounds me, while also engaging with materials that I find beautiful.”