Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Israeli, b. 1962
Ayala Serfaty is a contemporary artist and designer who marches to the beat of her own drum. Endeavoring to blur the line between practical furnishings and sculptural focal points, her armchairs, table lamps and wall lights are as dazzling in appearance as they are functional.
Ayala Serfaty was born in 1962 in Tel Aviv. She studied fine arts at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem before moving to London, where she attended Middlesex University. After graduation, she moved back to and chose to settle in Tel Aviv. She continued painting, sculpting and studying fine art until the 1990s when she also began designing furniture.
Ayala Serfaty told the Wall Street Journal that inspiration struck in 1996 while on a snorkeling vacation at the Red Sea. Upon returning to Tel Aviv, she established Aqua Creations Lighting and Furniture Atelier and took on the designer and creative director role. Today, she is also regularly collaborating with Maison Gerard in New York City.
Serfaty's unique and handcrafted approach to furniture design and production means that each piece is entirely one of a kind. Every sculptural creation draws from an eclectic well of ancient traditions and modern design sensibilities. It can take up to six months from concept to completion.
Serfaty is perhaps best known for her SOMA lighting collection. The ethereal lamps are made from woven glass, giving them the look of organically grown crystals in underwater caves. They have a fantastically tactile appeal, which is an attribute of many of her designs.
She has exhibited at the London Design Museum, the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art in Israel, and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City. Her furniture has also been shown by Maison Gerard at the 2016 Winter Antiques Show and the 2021 Salon Art + Design. Her work is held in the collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
On 1stDibs, find Ayala Serfaty seating, lighting, decorative objects and more.
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Creator: Ayala Serfaty
Ayala Serfaty, Shastool Series: Shah Green Plum, Handmade Stool, Israel, 2022
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Shastool Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Steel
Ayala Serfaty, Shastool Series: Shah Lips, Handmade Stool, Israel, 2022
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Shastool Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Steel
Ayala Serfaty, Shastool Series: Sha Kurama, Handmade Stool, Israel, 2019
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Shastool Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Silk
Ayala Serfaty, Shastool Series: Sha Patina, Handmade Stool, Israel, 2022
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Shastool Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Steel
Ayala Serfaty, Soma Series: Adaptation Handmade Light Sculpture, Israel, 2014
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Soma Series includes lights sculptures, crafted by applying a self-webbing membrane over a unique structure made of thin glass rods in the traditional lampwork technique. As inspirat...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Glass, Plastic
Ayala Serfaty, Once IV, Sculptural Table Lamp, Israel, 2023
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Soma Series includes lights sculptures, crafted by applying a self-webbing membrane over a unique structure made of thin glass rods in the traditional lampwork technique. As inspirat...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Glass, Plastic
Ayala Serfaty, Once III, Sculptural Table Lamp, Israel, 2023
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Soma Series includes lights sculptures, crafted by applying a self-webbing membrane over a unique structure made of thin glass rods in the traditional lampwork technique. As inspirat...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Glass, Plastic
Ayala Serfaty Aqua Creations Tufted Suede Lounge Chair
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Haverhill, MA
Late 20th century, light multi-colored micro-suede type upholstery with metal buttons, raised on splayed wooden legs for a surprisingly comfortable seat, unmarked. Likely created by ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Suede
Ayala Serfaty, Janus, Patinated Bronze Coffee Table, Israel, 2023
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Named for the two-faced Roman god of time, beginnings, transitions, and endings, Janus is the manifestation of the designer's ongoing research into cellular structure and organic abs...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Bronze
Ayala Serfaty, Masha, Janus Series, Patinated Bronze Coffee Table, Israel, 2023
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Masha is part of Serfaty's new Janus Series. Named for the two-faced Roman god of time, beginnings, transitions, and endings, Janus is the manifestation of the designer's ongoing res...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Bronze
Ayala Serfaty, Rapa Series, Herena, Handmade Armchair, Israel, 2023
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Rapa Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Felt
Ayala Serfaty, Rapa Series, Herena, Handmade Armchair, Israel, 2023
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Rapa Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Felt
Ayala Serfaty, Shastool Series: Shah Lips, Handmade Stool, Israel, 2022
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Shastool Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Steel
Ayala Serfaty, Shastool Series: Shah Agava, Handmade Stool, Israel, 2022
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Shastool Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Steel
Ayala Serfaty, Shastool Series: Shah Lime, Handmade Stool, Israel, 2022
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Shastool Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Steel
Ayala Serfaty, Rapa Series: Nimana White, Handmade Poof, Israel, 2022
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Rapa Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Silk
Ayala Serfaty, Rapa Series: Nimana Green, Handmade Poof, Israel, 2021
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Rapa Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Silk
Once
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Paris, FR
'ONCE' is a unique ceiling light sculpture reminiscent of biomorphic forms. It is part of Ayala Serfaty's world-renowned ‘SOMA’ series (her "clouds"), a set of fascinating and intang...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Glass
Nada I
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Paris, FR
‘NADA I, 2020‘ is a unique wall light sculpture reminiscent of biomorphic forms. It is part of Ayala Serfaty's world-renowned ‘SOMA’ series (her "clouds"), a set of fascinating and i...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Glass
Kuramura Pollock Ocean
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Paris, FR
This 'Kuramura Pollock (Ocean)' armchair is a unique piece handcrafted by Ayala Serfaty featuring a deep green and white pattern and evoking Jackson Pollock’s drippings. World-renowned for her ‘SOMA’ series (her "clouds"), Ayala Serfaty has developed since 2010 a collection of seats made of wool, linen and silk fibres which she carefully gathers from all over the world. Work by the artist is notably included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.
Like a painter mixes paint on a pallet, Ayala Serfaty handcrafts a unique felt for each piece to create custom colours and textures. The materiality of textile came to inform her work from its very beginning. “I started out with felt when I went to a Joseph Beuys exhibition in London in 1985. Now I produce it myself. I was trained as a painter and for me, the value of felt – historically, culturally, and artistically – means that I can treat it like a painting or a sculpture. First, I sculpt the polyurethane foam over the metal structure. Next I figure out the shape of the garment so that it will totally cover it. I don’t cut a piece of fabric – I make the entire cover in one piece. Each one is unique, and with no fitting. I make the colours I need, mixing silk with wool and linen in different percentages”.
The series of sensual and protective felt chairs, armchairs and benches is called ‘RAPA’ (‘the healer’ in Hebrew). The name echoes the idea so dear to Joseph Beuys who claimed to have been treated and healed during WWII by this material. Each featuring a unique organic pattern, these seats of singular beauty and consummate comfort defy categorisation while bringing to mind rocky soil, bird plumage, and animal hides. Visually rough but infinitely soft to the touch, they succeed in blurring the usual sensitive frontiers while asserting the physical and terrestrial character of life.
Since the 1990s, Ayala Serfaty has forged a unique path in the world of contemporary design, translating the structural and aesthetic qualities of the natural world into three-dimensional objects. Her conceptual furniture...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Felt, Linen, Silk
Sangha
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Paris, FR
Each ‘SOMA’ piece is handmade out of thin blown glass rods that are individually flame-worked until they partially melt and join together. Little by little a cobweb-like structure ap...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Glass
Clear
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Paris, FR
‘CLEAR‘ is a unique wall light sculpture reminiscent of biomorphic forms. It is part of Ayala Serfaty's world-renowned ‘SOMA’ series (her "clouds"), ...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Glass
Tara III
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Paris, FR
Each ‘SOMA’ piece is handmade out of thin blown glass rods that are individually flame-worked until they partially melt and join together. Little by little a cobweb-like structure ap...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Glass
Tara I
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Paris, FR
Each ‘SOMA’ piece is handmade out of thin blown glass rods that are individually flame-worked until they partially melt and join together. Little by little a cobweb-like structure ap...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Glass
The Rest of Noon
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Paris, FR
Each ‘SOMA’ piece is handmade out of thin blown glass rods that are individually flame-worked until they partially melt and join together. Little by little a cobweb-like structure ap...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Glass
Tara Lehdu
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Paris, FR
Each ‘SOMA’ piece is handmade out of thin blown glass rods that are individually flame-worked until they partially melt and join together. Little by little a cobweb-like structure ap...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Glass
Anu
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Paris, FR
Like a painter mixes paint on a pallet, Ayala Serfaty handcrafts a unique felt for each piece to create custom colours and textures. The materiality of textile came to inform her work from its very beginning. “I started out with felt when I went to a Joseph Beuys exhibition in London in 1985. Now I produce it myself. I was trained as a painter and for me, the value of felt – historically, culturally, and artistically – means that I can treat it like a painting or a sculpture. First, I sculpt the polyurethane foam over the metal structure. Next I figure out the shape of the garment so that it will totally cover it. I don’t cut a piece of fabric – I make the entire cover in one piece. Each one is unique, and with no fitting. I make the colours I need, mixing silk with wool and linen in different percentages”.
The series of sensual and protective felt chairs, armchairs and benches is called ‘RAPA’ (‘the healer’ in Hebrew). The name echoes the idea so dear to Joseph Beuys who claimed to have been treated and healed during WWII by this material. Each featuring a unique organic pattern, these seats of singular beauty and consummate comfort defy categorisation while bringing to mind rocky soil, bird plumage, and animal hides. Visually rough but infinitely soft to the touch, they succeed in blurring the usual sensitive frontiers while asserting the physical and terrestrial character of life.
Since the 1990s, Ayala Serfaty has forged a unique path in the world of contemporary design, translating the structural and aesthetic qualities of the natural world into three-dimensional objects. Her conceptual furniture...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Linen, Silk
The Rest of Night
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Paris, FR
Each ‘SOMA’ piece is handmade out of thin blown glass rods that are individually flame-worked until they partially melt and join together. Little by little a cobweb-like structure ap...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Glass
Chaga
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Paris, FR
Each ‘SOMA’ piece is handmade out of thin blown glass rods that are individually flame-worked until they partially melt and join together. Little by little a cobweb-like structure ap...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Glass, Fiberglass
Ayala Serfaty, Rapa Series: Dessa Leh, Contemporary Lounge Chair, Israel, 2017
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Rapa Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded ...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Felt, Silk
Ayala Serfaty, Soma Series: Nuraya, Handmade Floor Light Sculpture, Israel, 2018
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Soma Series includes lights sculptures, crafted by applying a self-webbing membrane over a unique structure made of thin glass rods in the traditional lampwork technique. As inspirat...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Glass
Ayala Serfaty, Stella & Maris, Hand-made Armchair & Ottoman, Israel, 2020
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Rapa Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Israeli Other Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Felt
Ayala Serfaty, Shastool Series: Sha Pollock, Handmade Stool, Israel, 2019
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Shastool Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Silk
Ayala Serfaty, Shastool Series: Sha Date, Handmade Stool, Israel, 2019
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Shastool Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Silk
Ayala Serfaty, Rapa Series: Conchas, Armchairs with Shared Ottoman, Israel, 2020
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Rapa Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Felt
Ayala Serfaty, Shastool Series: Sha Rustin, Handmade Stool, Israel, 2019
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Shastool Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Silk
Ayala Serfaty, Soma Series: Adaptation, Handmade Light Sculpture, Israel, 2005
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Soma Series includes lights sculptures, crafted by applying a self-webbing membrane over a unique structure made of thin glass rods in the traditional lampwork technique. As inspirat...
Category
Early 2000s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Ceramic
Ayala Serfaty, Shastool Series: Muare, Handmade Stool, Israel, 2019
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Shastool Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Silk
Pair of Ayala Serfaty Aqua Creations Tufted Leather Daybeds Benches Cots Organic
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Rockaway, NJ
Pair of custom design benches or daybeds by famous and recognised Israeli designer Ayala Serfaty for Aqua Creations.
Made out of countless multi-color leather triangles sewn together to form a unique organic pattern fabric. Stuffed with organic wool. No PU foam or other synthetic materials. The set was featured in one of "Sex in the City...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Israeli Mid-Century Modern Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Leather
Ayala Serfaty, Soma Series: Memory III, Table Light Sculpture, Israel, 2016
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Soma Series includes lights sculptures, crafted by applying a self-webbing membrane over a unique structure made of thin glass rods in the traditional lampwork technique. As inspirat...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Glass, Plastic
Ayala Serfaty, Shastool Series: Sha Kurama, Handmade Stool, Israel, 2019
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Shastool Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Silk
Ayala Serfaty, Soma Series: Vika, Suspended Light Sculpture, Israel, 2019
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Soma Series includes lights sculptures, crafted by applying a self-webbing membrane over a unique structure made of thin glass rods in the traditional lampwork technique. As inspirat...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Ceramic, Glass
Ayala Serfaty, Rapa Series: Daura & Justo, Armchair & Ottoman, israel, 2013
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Rapa Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural structures, which are both artistic and comfortable.
Fabricated in 2017 specifically for Design Miami...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Felt
Ayala Serfaty, Shastool Series: Sha Thor, Contemporary High Stool, Israel, 2014
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Shastool Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded over organic sculptural...
Category
2010s Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Metal
Ayala Serfaty for Aqua Creations 'Morning Glory' Floor Lamp
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Ayala Serfaty for Aqua Creations 'Morning Glory' floor lamp. Silk over metal. Approx. 81.75'' h x 40'' wide at the very top.
Category
Late 20th Century Mid-Century Modern Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Metal
Ayala Serfaty, Rapa Series, Kuramura Blue, Handmade Armchair, Israel, 2020
By Ayala Serfaty
Located in New York, NY
Rapa Series consists of pieces felted by hand, recalling ancient textiles. Utilizing wool and silk, these one-of-a-kind fiber art pieces are softly molded ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Israeli Ayala Serfaty Furniture
Materials
Wool, Felt
Ayala Serfaty furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
Ayala Serfaty furniture are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of fabric and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Ayala Serfaty furniture, although black editions of this piece are particularly popular. We have 1 vintage editions of these items in-stock, while there is 35 modern edition to choose from as well. Many of the original furniture by Ayala Serfaty were created in the mid-century modern style in west asia during the 21st century and contemporary. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider furniture by Ariel Zuckerman, Aqua Creations, and iota. Prices for Ayala Serfaty furniture can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $7,900 and can go as high as $130,000, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $29,500.
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