Architect Massimiliano Locatelli and former Prada design director Fabio Zambernardi have developed a method for “embroidering the impossible” – using hacked sewing machines to embellish wooden furniture and surfaces with metal threads.
Their project was unveiled as part of the Nullus Locus installation at Milan design week, where an entire room was fitted out in embroidered timber, complete with trompe l’oeil wall panelling.
The aim was to demonstrate how stitching can replace traditional wood inlay by adding patterns that bring light, depth and detailed ornamentation to different objects.
“The metal thread stitched into the wood becomes decoration but also volume and the image rises from the design through the three-dimensionality of the embroidery,” Locatelli explained.
Developed in collaboration with artisanal embroiderer Graziano Giordani, the technique utilises specially modified sewing machines to manually stitch patterns into wood veneers.
The Nullus Locus installation featured panelling intended to evoke the intricate wood inlay walls of a private study built in the 15th century for Federico da Montefeltro, the Duke of Urbino.
The installation’s embroidered walls, floors and fireplace all used the same wood to create a simple space that draws attention to the technical ingenuity of the stitching process, which the team describes as “embroidering the impossible”.
In addition to the wall panelling and flooring in the style of the classic Versailles parquet, Locatelli and Zambernardi applied the embroidery technique to a dining table, chair and chest of drawers.
The studio told Dezeen that the furniture reinterprets the proportions and wood inlay ornamentation of pieces created by the 18th-century Italian cabinetmaker Giuseppe Maggiolini.
The installation also featured smaller objects, including a vase and tray, each decorated with intricately embroidered patterns such as Baroque floral motifs.
The process used to manufacture the various objects is customisable and applicable in a wide range of contexts, from furniture and home accessories to interiors.
Following the Milan exhibition, the installation is to be shipped to a gallery in New York and reassembled for a dedicated exhibition that will recreate the experience for a new audience.
Other innovative uses of wood that were on show at this year’s Milan design week included a “temple” made from robotically carved MDF and Longchamp’s first furniture collection, formed by bending layers of walnut veneer into fluid forms.
Milan design week 2025 took place from April 7 to 13. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
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