Ennua Element 01 Brings Carbon Fiber Structure Into Luxury Furniture

Updated on August 12, 2026 • 5 min read

Carbon fiber has long been associated with aerospace, motorsport and high-performance automotive applications. Now, two former McLaren Automotive designers are applying their experience with the material to a very different product: luxury furniture.

Ennua Element 01, created by João Dias and Patrick Carton, uses a carbon fiber structural frame as a central part of its construction rather than treating the material simply as a decorative finish.

The designers previously worked on high-performance vehicles including the McLaren Speedtail and W1, bringing automotive design and engineering principles into the development of Element 01.

Carbon Fiber Forms the Structural Core

The most notable aspect of Element 01 from a composites perspective is how carbon fiber is used.

Rather than adding a visible carbon fiber panel to a conventional furniture structure, Ennua uses a carbon fiber frame as the backbone of the piece.

The approach draws inspiration from automotive monocoque construction, where the structural shell itself plays an important role in carrying loads.

Dias and Carton developed the engineering and exterior form together, with the objective of making the structure part of the overall design rather than hiding it beneath decorative surfaces.

This gives carbon fiber both a functional and visual role in the finished product.

Automotive Experience Moves Into Furniture Design

Element 01 reflects the designers’ backgrounds in high-performance automotive development.

Dias and Carton worked at McLaren Automotive before establishing Ennua, contributing to vehicles where material selection, structural efficiency and exterior form are closely connected.

That experience can be seen in Element 01’s sweeping surfaces and exposed material combinations.

Instead of directly reproducing the appearance of a supercar, however, the designers have transferred some of the underlying design philosophy into a stationary object.

The result sits somewhere between furniture, engineering and collectible design.

Carbon Fiber Combined With Leather and Metals

Element 01 is manufactured in the United Kingdom and combines its carbon fiber structure with several premium materials.

These include Bridge of Weir leather, BioPRO foam and metals such as titanium, aluminum, brass and gold.

BioPRO foam is produced using collagen byproducts from leather production.

Carbon fiber can also be customized according to the buyer’s specification, including natural and tinted finishes. Leather and metal finishes can similarly be selected to create individually configured pieces.

The combination demonstrates how visible composite structures can become part of a broader material palette rather than being used independently.

Only 199 Element 01 Pieces Will Be Produced

Ennua plans to manufacture just 199 individually numbered examples of Element 01.

Pricing starts at approximately $145,000, placing the product firmly within the collectible luxury furniture market.

Customers work directly with Dias and Carton to determine materials and finishes for their individual piece.

This limited-production approach differs significantly from the high-volume manufacturing environments associated with many automotive components, but it provides greater freedom to experiment with materials, finishes and complex structural forms.

Carbon Fiber Finds Another Application Beyond Transportation

Carbon fiber furniture itself is not new. The material has previously appeared in chairs, tables and other high-end furniture products, particularly where low weight, unusual geometry or a distinctive visual appearance is desired.

What makes Element 01 noteworthy is the emphasis placed on carbon fiber as part of the primary structure.

This distinction matters.

A carbon fiber surface can provide the visual language associated with motorsport or aerospace without substantially changing how a product carries loads. A structural carbon fiber frame, by contrast, requires the material to be considered during the engineering and development of the product itself.

Element 01 therefore provides another example of composite engineering methods moving beyond their traditional markets.

Element 01 Starts a Larger Ennua Series

Element 01 is the first product in the planned “Element by Ennua” series.

According to the company, future products will explore different forms and functions while maintaining the same emphasis on materials, engineering and design.

For the composites industry, the project offers a small but interesting example of how knowledge developed in high-performance automotive engineering can migrate into other markets.

Carbon fiber is unlikely to become a mainstream furniture material given its cost and manufacturing requirements. But at the high end of the market, where structural freedom, low production volumes and material expression can justify more complex manufacturing, composites provide designers with possibilities that conventional furniture materials may not offer.

Element 01 demonstrates that transition particularly clearly: carbon fiber has moved from the supercar to the furniture structure without losing its engineering role.

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