There is more to piano keys than their exposed black and white teeth—and what is left behind, hidden within the piano’s body, can make a wonderful building material. Brooklyn-based design studio Nine Stories Furniture certainly believes in repurposing discarded materials. They made a name for themselves building furniture from scrap car metal. And now they’re reusing piano keys.

Tatum’s Lounge. Designed by Nine Stories Furniture. Distributed by Voos.

Chair Made From Reclaimed Piano Keys

Tatum’s Lounge is constructed of reclaimed piano keys, steel, and resin. The chair measures 30″h x 19″w x 24″d, and its experimental design is meant to “explore the structural possibilities of using reclaimed piano keys as a building material.” Part of the glory inherent in this unique material is how much weight it can hold: though the chair itself weighs in at six pounds, it can hold 25 times its weight. That amounts to 150 pounds, making Tatum’s Lounge a chair for the slimmer members of society. Appropriately, the lounge chair gets its name from the world of music: Lounge refers to “a place in which jazz piano music is played” and Tatum is “an homage to the music of the great Art Tatum, born 1909.”

This one-of-a-kind chair is currently on display at VOOS, the furniture showroom that believes “innovation in furniture comes from the fringe, from small enclaves like Brooklyn and other ‘design farms’ all over the world.” Located in Williamsburg, “VOOS is a condensed capsule of locally grown design produce, always fresh, packed with energy and creativity.”

About the Designer: Nine Stories Furniture is a design studio located in Brooklyn’s Navy Yard. Headed by Mr. Rumpler, former manager of LOUIS, a bar at 649 East 9th Street dedicated to Louis Armstrong, the studio has lately focused on their “Elsie Series,” which reuses automotive sheet metal to create home furnishings.