Good ol’ sturdy wood has been providing us with fire, furniture, houses, pencils, and a million other things since the first human figured out how to kill a tree. But here’s a new way to use wood that we never thought was possible: sewing it.

Product designers Anastasiya Koshcheeva and Oya-Meryem Yanik changes the way molded wood is used. Chester, as they have named it, is an innovative surface material that is held together with stitches rather than with glue, lending a folksy, quilted look to whatever it adorns.

Chester can be used on its own to make unique furniture or decorative pieces, but it can also be applied over plywood for a sturdier, thicker, prettier piece of furniture.

One of the benefits of Chester is that its quilting gives it a soft, cushiony feeling. Bent wood furniture – traditionally stylish but hard on the backside – can now enjoy the softness of a fabric-covered piece. Once the designers complete their development and get Chester to market, anyway.