When you combine viral art collective MSCHF with the high-octane performance DNA of Mercedes-AMG, the result is unconventional, attention-grabbing, and radically inventive
We’ll be honest—furniture, lighting, and fashion were the last things on our minds upon hearing of this partnership. But the result of this collaboration? Absurd, undeniably beautiful, and unmistakably AMG.
Under normal circumstances, a forged AMG wheel, racing seatbelt, and radiator grille have only one thing in common: they’re car parts. But in the rule-breaking hands of U.S. art collective MSCHF, they become design provocations.
Unveiled at the NYCxDesign Festival 2025, this collaboration between Mercedes-AMG and MSCHF marks a rare detour into the absurd, the beautiful, and the conceptually rich. Titled “Not for Automotive Use”, the collection reimagines AMG’s hallmark components as high-concept, limited-edition furniture. Think a lounge couch with functional headlights, a seatbelt-powered lamp that turns on when you click in, a charcoal grill modelled after an AMG grille, complete with adjustable air vents… you get the idea.
The series pays homage to Italy’s Radical Design movement of the 1960s, blending precision engineering with playful irreverence. MSCHF also nods to the spirit of Milanese designer Achille Castiglioni, famed for transforming tractor and bicycle parts into design icons, by doing the exact same with AMG’s high-performance hardware. In MSCHF’s world, function is fluid, and utility is merely a suggestion, not a rule.
At the heart of it all, of course, is AMG’s precision craftsmanship. Each made-to-order piece is produced in strictly limited quantities and integrates genuine AMG parts with sculptural flair. The Seatbelt Shelf, for instance, uses five AMG seatbelts to tension and suspend milled aluminium shelving, while the Seatbelt Light (arguably the most charming of the lot for us) illuminates only when the red belt is clipped into place.
A capsule collection of merchandise completes the collaboration. Developed with AMG’s design team in Affalterbach, you’ll find apparels and accessories featuring exploded prints of AMG car parts. A nod to the brand’s heritage, the cheeky apple tree-shaped fragrance hanger references Affalterbach’s name in Old High German, which translates to “apple tree by the brook”.
This collaboration also marks the first time MSCHF opened up its famously secretive Brooklyn studio to the public. During the launch premiere of “Not for Automotive Use”, the MSCHF studio itself became the exhibition: part gallery, part garage, part performance.
No, these pieces aren’t built for the road, nor will they get you to your destination–but they’re pure AMG, and very mischievously so.
