Floating Stone: Zaha Hadid’s Cantilevered Granite Shelf

Famed architect Zaha Hadid brings her signature organic, flowing aesthetic into the home with Tela, a shelving unit made of solid black granite that nevertheless seems to float on air. Designed for Italian natural stone company Citco, the unit features a structural core of interweaving surfaces that extend into four cantilevered shelves.


The entire unit is carved from a single piece of granite, with interlinking elements providing the strength to support its weightless appearance. While most furniture designs using such a heavy material would emphasize the solidity and strength with boulder-inspired shapes, Hadid’s utilizes contrast for an entirely unexpected effect.

Hadid’s past collaborations with Citco have included rounded marble tables reminiscent of flower petals, and a number of wall-hanging sculptural pieces. As usual, these textural works take inspiration from the natural world, with shapes that often look like magnified cellular structures.