LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL 2011 – THE MOST POPULAR: THE STOOL

October, 4 2011 • 10:43

Posted inEvents

“Mind the Gap” by Ida Noemi Vidal Adaptable and multi-functional, the stool can be used as a small table, a night stand or even as step. It can be interpreted in many different ways by designers, some more original and creative than others. However the amount of stools that are available in the market today are in the thousands, and it could be that we have arrived at saturation point. Here are some stools from the London Design Festival that we picked out. What do you think? Which one do you prefer? Or perhaps do you have other examples to show us? Ida_designed “Mind the Gap”, a stool and console table for the hallway resembling cityscapes, which brings to mind a miniature world, looking at life upside down. In her words, “the hallway is the first room you enter in a home, and the last room you leave. It bridges the gap between the private world and the outside world.” The console and the stool work as a storage furniture for must haves.

no photo “Rubberised newspaper furniture cubes for your home” by Suzie Button Suzie Button, a young designer from Bristol, explores the potential of using unread and overproduced newspapers as raw materials for her construction in furniture. “No news is good news” is the name of her latest project, crafting modular cuboids from post-production newspapers and natural rubber that can be assembled as seating or a table. Passionate about sustainability and the environment, this project won her the New Designers 100% design award.

no photo “Stool” by Gt_2P “Suple”, the prototype from Chilean Studio gt2P, is a fixation system that allows joining wood elements with several legs into a single connector piece made of steel. Thanks to its parametric algorithm, it is adaptable in size and it is possible to create objects like tables, benches, stools etc. The designers are currently working on improving the aluminum junction. Gt2P is a parametric design and digital fabrication studio that creates “DNA” to generate families of products which allow scalability from small objects to big building structures.

no photo “Felt Stool” by Robert Barnby Robert Barnby, a young British designer, proposes a stool with a coloured felt insert that sits in a pre-machined rebate on the top, adding both comfort and aesthetics to the design. Based in his workshop on the Welsh border, Robert hand makes all his furniture in small batches, which gives each piece a unique and personal quality.

no photo “Knit Stools” by Claire-Anne O’Brien Inspired by elements of the knitted stitch itself such as rings and loops, the structures are revealed and celebrated through exaggerated scale in bold and textured forms. Lambswool and Sheeps wool, in a mix of hand and machine knit stitches, are constructed into playful statement pieces. Claire-anne is a textile designer specialised in knitting. Her work plays with technique and scale creating tactile fabrics for interiors. This sculptural approach to textiles brings fabrics to life in three dimensions through form exploration and furniture.

no photo “Stool in plaster” by Edwin. Edwin Williams, the designer behind ‘Edwin’, created the Stool in Plaster in collaboration with the furniture conservator Caroline Wright. The seat is created over a rotating stretched fabric form, and plastered with vivacious and fun colours. Each piece is made of water-based acrylic plaster, reinforced with glass fibre. The plaster here is used to make furniture which is both inherently irregular and structural.

no photo “NP Stools 2011” by Jung Myung Jung Myung Taek, a Korean based designer, created the “NP Stool 2011” in triangular shapes with different types of wood: oak, beech and ebony. The particularity of this stool is that once they are stacked one above the other they create a completely different design that is visually appealing with a sense of movement. Myung Taek plays with geometry and natural colours.

no photo “Cricket Stools” by Pierre Ospina Pierre Ospina, French-born London-based designer, proposes two limited editions of twelve “Cricket stools”, made from one whole cricket set with handles in polypropylene braided cord. Each edition contains six stools in light and dark wood, with six different handle colours. Used in the “Rest are for the brits” of TENT London they seemed very much appreciated by the visitors chilling out.

no photo “Stooble” by Alison Milner “Stooble”, the new stool/table designed by Alison Milner, is an adaptable bed-side table, a surface for drinks, a child’s first stool or a place to sit in the sun. The particularity of this stool is that it can be folded and put away in its own ‘string bag’. It’s small and unassuming and yet unique, basic but decorative. Made out of Birch plywood grown in sustainable forests, each piece is decorated with limited edition prints of five hundred and is signed and numbered under the seat.

no photo “Spring Stool” by Tamasine Osher Design A stool with a difference, the “Spring Stool” is shaped like a screw and bolt kept together by an adjustable spring that can make the stool higher or lower as necessary. Made out of maple or oak, the designer Tamasine Osher is inspired by combining unexpected elements together to stimulate curiosity and awaken emotions using contrasting forms. Trained as an architect at Manchester University, she is now based in London.