MARTINA was created to bring together in a single piece some of the values that define Pipedesign: attention to detail, material research, quality craftsmanship and the time required to create something made to last.
A designer rocking chair with a strong yet balanced presence. Its seat is wide, welcoming and almost enveloping, while the structure beneath it is remarkably light and slender. Made from solid steel rod, shaped and welded by hand, the frame appears almost to lift the seat off the ground.
Even the rocking motion is part of the design. Its slow movement recalls the rhythm of a pendulum — and the idea of time itself, something that, in true craftsmanship, can only be accelerated so far.
The Challenge: Upholstering a Chair in Wood
When designing MARTINA, we could have chosen an easier path.
Instead, we decided to cover a large, curved seat with a material that is anything but soft by nature: wood.
It took prototypes, trials and errors. We created a custom template to guide the stitching and even built a raised work surface so that the craftsman could work more comfortably on a seat of this size.
We had to learn how to bend and shape the wood until it could behave almost like leather, following the curves of the seat and backrest. The entire covering is then stitched by hand, completing a process that makes MARTINA a truly handcrafted rocking chair.
The very first prototype still bears the marks of that research. And it is still here with us today.
The Value of Time in Italian Craftsmanship
All of this takes time.
Time that industrial production inevitably tries to reduce, because producing faster means producing more.
And so we keep coming back to the same question: does it still make sense to choose the more difficult path?
For us, the answer is yes.
Because we believe quality also comes from the time devoted to making something, from the skill of the hands that create it, and from the decision not to simplify a design simply to make it easier to produce.
A Wood and Metal Rocking Chair, Unique Every Time
The nature of the material itself completes the design.
No two wood grains are ever identical, which means that every MARTINA rocking chair is inevitably one of a kind. Each piece is individually registered with its own number and the Pipedesign mark.
The wood species can be selected together with us, or MARTINA can be upholstered in leather, with different types and finishes available. Today, MARTINA is also available with outdoor-grade leather, bringing the original vision behind the project to life: a rocking chair gently moving beneath a large veranda.
MARTINA embodies our idea of Made in Italy design, where design, materials and artisanal expertise still deserve time.
Because some things simply take time.
And we have chosen to give them the time they deserve.
