The Rolled Chair by Jonathan Nesci, debuting this week at Patrick Parrish Gallery at Design Miami, is an exercise in process of only three main components. Every element of the chair — body, backrest and seat — are made of aluminium sheet, which is cut flat, mechanically rolled into shape and continuously welded to what appears to be a simple extrusion.

The story of Chicago-based Nesci's debut into the industrial design world is quite the origin tale. Working as a forklift operator at FedEx in Chicago in the early 2000's while studying 3D drafting in night school at a community college, after some cheerleading from one of his coworkers, he cold-emailed Richard Wright and landed a job the eponymous Chicago auction house. Richard Wright was where he cut his teeth for 5 years until leaving in 2012 to found his own studio.

Nesci has long had a marked interest in minimalist art and sculpture. His collections have dwelt in the extent to which his monolithic pieces rely on materiality and process-based concepts; his research into ancient and prehistorical objects generating results like the stunning Rolled Chair and his HALE Collection, which we proudly featured in Minimalissimo Nº1.

Photography by Adam Reynolds.