Tiny silver charm sold in a vending machine benefits Chef José Andrés food charity

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Proceeds from the sale of this silver chair charm, designed by Marla Aaron, will benefit the charity World Central Kitchen. (Photo courtesy of Marla Aaron Jewelry)

NEW YORK - A New York City jewelry designer took inspiration from the restaurant industry to design and sell a product to benefit Americans struggling amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.

Marla Aaron, who lives in East Harlem, was struck by the sight of stacks of chairs inside so many of New York's empty restaurants. She researched common comfortable restaurant seats and then designed a 2-inch-tall sterling silver charm in the form of a chair you might find at your favorite eatery. The charm, which can be worn on a necklace, sells for $250. All the proceeds benefit World Central Kitchen, the highly rated charity founded by Chef José Andrés, the James Beard Award-winning humanitarian, cookbook author, and restaurateur.

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World Central Kitchen, whose stated mission is "using the power of food to empower communities and strengthen economies," is running a program during the pandemic that pays restaurants to cook meals for hungry people and health care workers in their neighborhoods. 

Proceeds from the sale of this silver chair charm, designed by Marla Aaron, will benefit the charity World Central Kitchen. (Photo courtesy of Marla Aaron Jewelry)

"It has been heartbreaking as a New Yorker but the same thing is playing out with restaurants around the world," Aaron said in a news release. "I wanted to do something immediate and am thrilled to support World Central Kitchen. Their work with Restaurants for the People keeps restaurants open feeding people who are hungry — I can't think of a better thing to do."

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The campaign is being called Take a Seat for Restaurants. And the silver charm, simply called the Chair, is sold online at marlaaaron.com, at Aaron's Diamond District showroom (which is by appointment only), in certain stores nationwide, and — most notably — out of a jewelry vending machine located in Rockefeller Center in Midtown.

Proceeds from the sale of this silver chair charm, designed by Marla Aaron, will benefit the charity World Central Kitchen. (Photo courtesy of Marla Aaron Jewelry)

"I am a small business owner and the struggle over the last year was real and complex in the jewelry industry," Aaron said. "That said, our pain doesn't even compare with how the restaurant industry has been challenged during the pandemic."

The jewelry vending machine debuted as an installation at the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 2017 and later popped up at William Vale Hotel in Brooklyn and MZ Wallace in Soho. Aaron's company said in a statement that it "always dreamt of bringing the 'stumble upon' excitement of its fine jewelry vending machine to the streets of Manhattan."

"Yes the machine will dispense the actual products, gift-wrapped," the company said. "No, it cannot be carried away or broken into."

You can find the vending machine at Rockefeller Center's South Plaza between 48th Street and 49th Street. To make an appointment to visit the Marla Aaron showroom, call 646-628-2389.

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Proceeds from the sale of this silver chair charm, designed by Marla Aaron, will benefit the charity World Central Kitchen. (Photo courtesy of Marla Aaron Jewelry)