Furniture Design rooted in heritage: Madda Studio × Stahl+Band
This month, we’re proud to announce our latest collaboration with LA-based design studio Stahl + Band, which debuted at their 10th anniversary celebration at the end of 2025. This launch is especially exciting, as it brings together one of our most intricate textile techniques - needle felting - with Stahl + Band’s signature furniture design.
In partnership with Stahl + Band’s founder, Jeffery Molter, we brought two collections - Morandi and Ludo - to life in furniture form. Each furniture piece is upholstered with our hand-felted textiles, which are tactile translations of oil paintings created by Madda.
“Working with Madda Studio is always an inspiring process. Her handwoven and hand-felted designs add an additional layer of warmth and traditional craft to our own Stahl + Band designs. It’s a partnership grounded in respect for the handmade and a shared love of innovative design.”
“Collaborating with Jeffery on Stahl+Band projects has meant growth for me as an artist and designer. At the same time, it has provided Madda Studio a professional challenge that has resulted in a lasting relationship based on mutual admiration and respect. Personally, I love the aesthetic that Jeffery infuses into his creations. His vision greatly inspires me.”
Fun fact: the Ludo collection was inspired by paintings Madda’s daughter, Ludovica, created when she was just two and three years old.
The Art of Needle Felting
Needle felting is a dry felting technique, where loose wool fibers are sculpted into intricate shapes and designs using a specialized needle. The needle has barbs - small notches - that catch the wool fibers and interlock them as the needle is poked in and out. The result is a soft, seamless textile capable of capturing the delicate detail and emotion of a painting, transforming color and form into fiber.
While felt itself is among the oldest known textiles, tracing back thousands of years across Central Asia and the Mediterranean, needle felting is a more contemporary evolution of this ancient craft. Developed in the mid-20th century from industrial felting machinery, artists later adapted the process by hand, turning a functional technique into a fine-art medium capable of expressive, painterly depth.
For this collaboration, Madda’s oil paintings were reimagined in felted form by Marcella Ortega and her team at the felting workshop in Centro De las Artes de San Agustín (CaSa), here in Oaxaca.
An Art Form Rooted in Oaxaca
In Oaxaca, the introduction of needle felting brought a new dimension to the region’s long textile tradition, blending the global history of wool craft with the local spirit of experimentation. What began as an ancient practice for warmth and protection, has since evolved into an art form of texture, color and cultural storytelling.
Founded in 2006 by the late Oaxacan master Francisco Toledo, CaSa transformed an abandoned 19th-century cotton mill into a vibrant arts center. The felting workshop, which opened in 2012, now sits alongside programs in printmaking, papermaking, textiles and dance.
Toledo - affectionately known as El Maestro - was a visionary who dedicated his life to the arts, founding numerous cultural institutions across Oaxaca and nurturing the next generation of artists. His commitment to art and community continues to shape Oaxaca’s creative landscape today.
“Toledo really pioneered this particular technique in Oaxaca, so the technique and our work are intrinsically linked to him. There is no other workshop in all of Mexico dedicated to needle felting as a fine art.”
Honoring Tradition Through Innovation
Working together with Marcela and her team, Madda has extended her vision into the delicate art of needle felting.
“It is a really powerful and interesting process working with different artists to transform their artwork into felted form – each artist has their own way of working, their own vision. We learn a lot from each artist that we collaborate with.”
This collaboration with Stahl + Band marks our first time applying the technique of needle felting beyond wall art, using it to upholster chairs, sofas and room dividers. Each piece represents more than design; it’s a dialogue between mediums, a meeting of artistic legacies, and a celebration of the living craft traditions that continue to thrive here in Oaxaca.
