Trust Lady Gaga to turn injury into spectacle. After canceling the rest of her Born This Way Ball Tour and going into surgery for an inflammatory joint infection called synovitis, she is currently confined to a wheelchair – but, per usual, the chair is an elaborate one covered in 24-karat gold.
According to the Daily Beast, the chair was commissioned by Gaga's stylist to jewelry designer Ken Borochov. Borochov, of the label Mordekai, completed the throne with only a week's notice and worked with manufacturers across the country on each costly component. "It was a huge undertaking," Borochov said. "It was made all over the United States. My assistant had to run around everywhere."
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The chair is plated with 1.5 ounces of gold, an approximate $2,600 value. It's a functional chair but not state-of-the-art – Gaga will have to power herself manually in it – with a tufted leather seat that was inspired by leather jackets. It also has a removable canopy to keep Lady Gaga guarded from the sun. The singer has not been seen in public with the chair except at a Terry Richardson photo shoot.
The Mordekai jewelry line was launched two years ago by the 30-year-old Borochov and has received attention from Gaga, Kanye West and Nicki Minaj. Borochov has not met Lady Gaga yet but says he hopes to "when the time is right."
This article originally appeared on Rolling Stone: Lady Gaga's Gold Wheelchair: All the Details
