Architect and designer Tanuvi Hegde has created a chair that aims to help reduce stress by inviting users to play with a metal ball built into its wooden frame.

Developed during her studies on the MFA in Furniture Design programme at Savannah College of Art and Design, the Reflect chair was informed by Hegde‘s own experience of managing anxiety.

Top: photo is by Nush Wadia. Above: Tanuvi Hegde has created a chair that helps to reduce stress

It is part of a series titled Exhibit (A): Furniture for the Anxious Being, which Brooklyn-based Hegde designed to engage the user’s senses and encourage introspection.

Some of the pieces transform subconscious habits, like opening drawers, into deliberate acts, while others support small, repetitive motions that allow users to engage in a kind of soothing choreography.

Reflect invites users to play with a metal ball built into its wooden frame

“I wanted to explore how furniture could move beyond function and aesthetics to serve as tools for emotional regulation,” the designer told Dezeen.

“The premise was simple: could objects hold space for the invisible weight we carry? Could they soothe, ground and offer moments of release?”

Its main body is made of cherry wood

The Reflect chair is made from cherry wood, with a green leather sling forming the seat. Hegde said she chose familiar materials that would quietly blend in with most surroundings.

“The wood and leather create an earthy palette that feels warm, rooted and approachable,” the designer explained.

“That natural harmony was important to me, as it reinforces a sense of calm and steadiness for the user, making the chair both visually and emotionally grounding.”

Chrome steel was chosen for the stress ball

Upon closer inspection, a metal ball bearing integrated into the chair’s armrest catches the viewer’s eye. Chrome steel was chosen to provide a cool, reflective contrast to the warm, matte texture of the wood.

The metal ball can be rolled along a channel that circles around the user’s back, ultimately coming to rest again at the end of the opposite armrest.

Its movement creates a gentle sound and vibration that enhances the sensory experience, bringing a meditative quality to the piece that transforms the act of sitting into an active ritual.

“I wanted to create a chair that doesn’t just support the body but also engages the restlessness that often comes with being still,” Hegde said, adding that the ball bearing’s presence aims to invite touch and play.

Hegde believes that “design can impact emotional well-being”

Hegde said that she often engages in repetitive motions or gestures that provide moments of comfort and organisation when she feels overwhelmed.

Her project explores how furniture can support emotional well-being by encouraging curiosity, engagement and presence, transforming passive objects into participatory tools for grounding and self-soothing behaviours.

“I believe design can impact emotional well-being by engaging more than just the eye,” Hegde pointed out.

“Through touch, sound, rhythm and movement, objects can invite interaction and create moments of pause.”

“In my practice, I focus on how furniture and objects can foster these experiences, transforming everyday encounters into moments of play and connection that feel deeply human.”

The Reflect chair featured in an exhibition held earlier this summer at Lyle Gallery in Manhattan. Outside/In explored themes of identity, access, self-expression and storytelling through works that transcended traditional norms.

Recently, Amsterdam-based Studio Lentala designed playful children’s chairs to “enable active sitting” and improve kids’ physical and mental health.

Emerging designers all over the world continue to innovate the humble chair. In June, these seven unique seats by rising stars stood out at Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design.

The photography is by Jonathan Hokklo unless stated otherwise. 

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