Ayala Serfaty Armchairs
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, 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 Armchairs
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 Armchairs
Materials
Wool, Felt
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 Armchairs
Materials
Wool, Felt, Linen, Silk
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 Armchairs
Materials
Wool, Felt, 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 Armchairs
Materials
Wool, Felt
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 Armchairs
Materials
Wool, Felt
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Akka Leh I Unique Armchair and Footrest by Ayala Serfaty
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Ayala Serfaty armchairs for sale on 1stDibs.
Ayala Serfaty armchairs are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of wool and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Ayala Serfaty armchairs, although black editions of this piece are particularly popular. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider armchairs by Autoban, Modshop, and Merve Kahraman. Prices for Ayala Serfaty armchairs can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $24,000 and can go as high as $60,000, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $31,750.