Some objects can alter the atmosphere of a room before a single note is played. Steinway & Sons’ new Straw Marquetry Masterpiece Collection, created with Lyon-based Studio Paelis, is one of them. A piano that is in itself a study in how sound, light and handcraft can be brought into quiet conversation.
The premise is deceptively simple: selected Steinway grand pianos, in Model B and Model D, are given an interior life of straw marquetry across the inside lid and note desk. The effect is spectacular. Rye straw, sourced from Burgundy, is split, flattened and laid by hand, strand by strand, until it catches the light with a soft, almost metallic glow. It is one of those rare materials that seems both humble and precious, agricultural in origin but jewellery-like in finish.
Studio Paelis is a clever partner for this endeavour. Founded in 2016 by Manon Bouvier-Toth, a Meilleur Ouvrier de France in straw marquetry, the atelier has built its reputation on pushing an old decorative discipline into contemporary territory. Here, that approach feels especially apt. A Steinway is already an object of ritual and precision, one whose making takes roughly a year and whose reputation rests on invisible details as much as visible ones. Paelis adds another layer of patience as a visual echo of music’s movement.
Left: Steinway & Sons x Studio Paelis Straw Marquetry Blue.
Middle: Craftsman smoothing and trueing the surface of the piano’s continuous outer rim and internal braces
on which the fragile acoustic soundboard will be glued.
Right: A half-carat diamond is positioned next to the “Steinway & Sons” gilded name inscription as a hallmark of the instrument’s rarity.
The collection comes in two designs. Classic Sunburst radiates from a central point, turning the lifted lid into a golden burst of energy. Concentric Waves is gentler, more meditative, its rippling rings suggesting the way sound travels through air. Both are available in Natural, Black and Blue, each colour shifting the mood from warm luminosity to graphic depth.
Crucially, this is still a Steinway. The artistry does not replace the instrument’s purpose. All examples are equipped with SPIRIO | r, the brand’s high-resolution player system, allowing performances to be recorded, played back and shared in remarkable detail. It is a fitting technological counterpoint to such old-world labour.
Limited to 18 instruments per colour and design in Model B, and eight in Model D, this is a collection aimed at the serious collector as much as the serious pianist. Its achievement lies in refusing to separate beauty from function. Steinway and Paelis have created an instrument that looks, even in silence, as if it is already resonating.
Author: Lina Ress
Lead image: Steinway & Sons Masterpiece Collection Natural
More about Steinway pianos in our articles: Steinway Hall London at 150, Steinway & Sons Based Upon Twist/D Piano, and Steinway & Sons’ Spiriocast among other editorials.
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