Designed and Made for the 100 Chairs Exhibition, Melbourne Design Week 2026

Graft Chair challenges the precision and repeatability that often define contemporary furniture design. Instead of beginning with fixed measurements or digital modelling, the chair develops through an intuitive process of layering material by hand. The form evolves gradually as each layer is added, producing a seat that embraces irregularity, tactility, and the presence of the maker.

Constructed by layering, or ‘grafting’, an experimental mixture of gypsum, resin and kaolin onto a steel mesh armature, the chair incorporates reclaimed aggregates within its structure. These materials are combined and transplanted into a monolithic form that transforms remnants of past matter into something new. In doing so, the work seeks to reveal a hidden beauty within overlooked materials while reflecting cycles of reuse and regeneration.

Though irregular and unconventional, the piece remains unmistakably a chair—inviting touch and bodily closeness. Its softened, hand-shaped geometry and expressive surface bear the marks of their making, creating a tactile exchange between sitter and object while celebrating form shaped through layering, intuition, and the presence of the maker’s hand.

Photography by Matt Dudley.