Phoenix

When I first encountered the old Sorbetto chair frame from my university's former library, it was no more than a burnt base, stripped of its original seat and left with only hints of its past life. Over the course of three weeks, my task was not just to refurbish it, but to truly rethink what a chair could be. I approached this challenge as a design exploration—one that demanded I experiment with form, material, and the essence of seating itself.

Because the chair had been visibly scorched, I decided to craft a new seat from metal, an incombustible material that would give the piece an almost “immortal” quality. Metal, however, can feel impersonal and cold—everything we typically avoid when designing for the human body. To reconcile this, I used perforated sheets and subtle curves that echo the original Sorbetto’s feminine lines. This delicate approach allowed me to retain the inherent strength of metal while softening its edges, both visually and ergonomically.

Throughout the process, I made minimal geometric changes to the existing frame—respecting its history while guiding it into a fresh narrative. By highlighting the junction between the back and the legs, I preserved the character of the Sorbetto design yet introduced a renewed elegance that speaks to modern comfort.

Phoenix stands as a testament to our core philosophy at Line and Round: design is a transformative service, a dialogue between past and present, where constraints become opportunities. In resurrecting this discarded frame, we not only saved an object from obsolescence but also infused it with a new sense of life—one that embraces both the resilience of metal and the inviting softness we associate with a welcoming seat.