Hasta La Ideas

I’m at a point in my life where I’m team stools over chairs, and I truly believe stools deserve to be given way more credit than they get. Stools are often overlooked, maybe because they occupy minimum space, and aren’t really overbearing. But these traits are what make stools so great in my opinion! I mean, they’re compact, and a great space-saving furniture option for our modern homes. They are also super portable. And, we’ve put together a collection of stool designs that not only provide a healthy seating experience while promoting a good and stable posture but most of them are created from sustainable materials as well. From a sculptural multifunctional stool made from wood to a rustic horse-riding saddle-inspired stool – these well-designed stools are the furniture pieces you need to add to your home.

1. The Plastic Translation Stool

Called the Plastic Translation Stool, this intriguing stool design attempts to reinterpret the lines of a plastic stool, creating a form that is similar and yet completely unique, allowing the wooden stool to possess its own unique character.

Why is it noteworthy?

The wooden legs alone, however, won’t be enough to offer the same stability as the plastic counterpart, so an additional element had to be added. This element comes in the form of Birch plywood buttresses. These buttresses distribute some of the force evenly across the beechwood legs, which, in turn, hold the buttresses together. The result is increased architectural stability and visual amplification, which gives the design an upgraded look.

What we like

• Doesn’t require screws or nails to be assembled
• A more sustainable option to the plastic stool
• It’s like a fun design puzzle

What we dislike

• Options to customize the stool are currently missing

2. Paco y Paco

Paco y Paco is a design concept that tries to check all the right boxes for a low-cost school furniture solution that is also sustainable and, to some extent, fun. Both the desk and the stool share the same basic shape of wooden planks connected in a row.

Why is it noteworthy?

The basic idea is for these to fold into trapezoidal form, with the two sides serving as legs while the middle one is the actual tabletop or seat. When no longer in use, they can lay flat for easier carrying and storage until their next use.

What we like

• It can be easily carried and stored away
• Uses ropes as the primary mechanism to fold or collapse the two

What we dislike

• Not sure if this furniture design is going to be comfortable

3. Altura

Patricia Perez designed the Altura, a minimal and sturdy step stool, for Case Furniture. An interesting fact about the stool is that it doubles as up as a side table and a plant stand.

Why is it noteworthy?

Described as a “sleek yet sturdy design”, the stool has been equipped with two stepped tiers that serve extremely handy in holding and storing all kinds of items – from lamps, and books, to an entire person! It enables users to reach those high-up places in their homes that they usually aren’t able to get.

What we like

• Altura’s minimal and neutral aesthetics make it a great addition to any modern living space
• Feature a clear polyethylene lacquer that helps to protect and save the wood from external damage

What we dislike

• The stool has 2 levels to it, so it doesn’t occupy too much space width-wise

4. The Pepe Stool

Designed by Raffaella Mangiarotti, the Pepe Stool is deeply inspired by a ‘horse-riding saddle’! Raffaella drew inferences from the saddle, especially its aesthetics and ergonomics to create the sturdy-looking Pepe Stool.

Why is it noteworthy?

The Pepe stool is a rather playful and amusing twist on saddle stools. Saddle stools are popular for promoting good posture, and for helping users strengthen their core since they feature no back support, and enable you to tilt your pelvis forward.

What we like

• Inspired by a horse-riding saddle
• Promotes good posture

What we dislike

• Its rustic aesthetics may not complement modern interiors

5. The FELS Stool

The Fels Stool by OUT stands out from most of the stools on the market as they’re quite aesthetically pleasing. They’re a stark contrast to the boring wooden stools we usually see in homes. They have a sculptural appeal to them, and they’re also multifunctional!

Why is it noteworthy?

The Fels stool is excellent for a variety of reasons. It’s been crafted from wood, making it a sustainable and eco-friendly piece of furniture. Secondly, although it is built from wood, it looks as if it’s been carved from stone! This instantly gives the stool a rather sophisticated and luxurious look to it, despite being made from a simple material – wood. It looks more like a sculpture than a piece of furniture, to be honest.

What we like

• It functions as a side table as well
• Looks like it’s been carved from stone

What we dislike

• The stool may be too bold and quirky for some people

6. The Balanco Stools

The Balanco stools were designed during the pandemic to provide kids and adults with something to play and engage with! Besides being interesting playthings, the stools are great seating options, inspired by rocks and boulders. You can stack the stools in different forms and patterns, in turn creating art in the process.

Why is it noteworthy?

The idea for the Balanco stools came from the Japanese practice of stacking pebbles to create towers. Traditionally, the pebbles mostly consist of rounded forms, designers Lisa Lai and Joel Wong decided that chiseled rock-like shapes would create more visual dynamism while offering a variety of flat surfaces that are ideal for stacking and layering.

What we like

• The poufs are deceptively light
• The individual surfaces remain relatively flat, so they stack on each other rather beautifully
• Inspired by rocks and boulders

What we dislike

• Made from felt, there is a higher chance of staining this design

7. The Tie Stool

The Tie Stool is made up of three bent plywood strips that effortlessly lock into one another, creating a tripod form that is comfortable to sit down on. Besides its unique design, the sheer simplicity of the stool, and the use of minimal materials make the stool quite a beauty.

Why is it noteworthy?

Fabricating the Tie Stool would require a few simple steps. The three plywood strips can, in fact, be split into 6 total parts (you can see the parting lines). The individual parts are formed using high pressure and temperatures that cause the plywood to bend and retain its shape, and cutting/finishing processes are performed on the parts to make them interlock into one another.

What we like

• The entire stool can potentially be flat-packed and shipped to customers
• It’s stackable

What we dislike

• Its compressed design means it needs a tabletop to add more space on the stool

8. The Flightable Closet

The Flightable Closet is a pretty interesting concept as it is not just a suitcase but is also a mini closet (as the name states) with a clothes rack. It can even function as a stool in case you would need one while at the airport or in the room where you’re currently staying.

Why is it noteworthy?

The idea is to make your carry-on suitcase more than just an accessory where you try to fit in as many clothes and toiletries as possible. It is conceptualized both for frequent travelers and those who are living in small spaces and need extra space for their stuff.

What we like

• The telescopic handle of the suitcase can also serve as your clothes rack
• Multipurpose design
• Perfect for frequent travelers and those who are living in small spaces and need extra space for their stuff

What we dislike

• Need to test the actual weight it can withstand when an actual life-size prototype will be created

9. Rice Husk Stool

This reading stool is ‘rice-inspired’, which basically means that rice husk became the designer’s inspiration and material for this product. Agriculture is not something that is usually linked with furniture, so this stool is really quite a special one.  The round shapes of the actual chair seat and the stand itself give off a “harmonious emotion” between the bionic design and the human who will be sitting on it.

Why is it noteworthy?

When it comes to sustainable materials, he proposes using a mix of rice husk and carbon, breaking them down and mixing the materials together and then using perfusion molding to shape it into the final chair design. The seat surface itself is made from braided straw but with the rice husk used as the base for the cushion. At the bottom of the stool, the straw is used as well. This brings the idea of sustainable design full circle, so to speak.

What we like

• The stool looks like a sculpture with an agricultural spin to it
• Sustainable + eco-friendly design

What we dislike

• As a reading chair, it looks uncomfortable to sit in for a long period of time

10. The Bond

This is just a stool, but its particular purpose is to make two persons live in unity. How? You open the stool system and separate the parts to seat two persons. Some people will probably not understand the point because the stools are too close, but the Bond can be perfect for couples who change residences frequently.

Why is it noteworthy?

If you and your partner love going out, you can sit together on the stools while you wear your shoes and before you head out the door. Bond is just to be closer to one another because, you know, some couples just can get enough of each other. The Bond stool system also features some storage space inside. You can put anything inside, like maybe your shoes or your laptop. Likewise, you can probably put there your purse or just about anything you don’t want to forget.

What we like

• The Bond is mainly made of wooden material, so you know it’s durable enough to withstand the test of time
• Space-saving form
• Allows you to get closer to your partner

What we dislike

• Standalone design that cannot be added on or increased

The post Top 10 stool designs all furniture lovers need in their home first appeared on Yanko Design.

British designer Thomas Randall-Page has installed a footbridge in east London that is made from weathering steel and oak and rotates via manual levers to let boats pass.

Called Cody Dock Rolling Bridge, it is part of a masterplan by London studio PUP Architects that is reviving the former Victorian dock on the River Lea for use by pedestrians.

Developed over seven years, the bridge has a square profile and crosses a small channel in the recently reflooded dock area. According to Randall-Page, it is the “first of its kind”, in that it rotates on its axis via a series of manual levers.

The bridge takes inspiration from the simple mechanisms of Victorian industrial design. Its edges are wrapped in steel gear teeth that rest in a track embedded into the side of the channel.

“Early industrial infrastructure inspired me to design a balanced system, like a canal lock or a draw bridge,” Randall-Page told Dezeen.

“These systems are counterweighted or use gravity to their advantage rather than external power sources,” he continued.

“Utilising weathering steel and steam-bent oak in their raw untreated state, the aesthetic is more influenced by the area’s maritime and shipbuilding past, traces of which are dotted throughout the area.”

A series of cables are wrapped around the edges of the Cody Dock Rolling Bridge and attached to wenches at either side, allowing it to be moved 180 degrees. For Randall-Page, it was important that the bridge can be manually controlled for a few reasons.

These include ensuring the bridge requires no power to run, and that it can be easily repaired. The latter aspect will also allow operators to identify any problems with the bridge without relying on “complex sensors or cut-offs”.

“This concept was developed specifically in relation to this project and its particular context,” explained Randall-Page.

“However, it is part of an ongoing fascination I have with movement and transformation, and the playfulness this can bring to projects.”

In order to balance the bridge as it rolls, scrap steel and concrete ballast are hidden inside the “hoops” that frame the bridge. It weighs 13 tonnes and the centre of gravity moves horizontally as it is operated.

Cody Dock Rolling Bridge currently crosses over a channel that is a dead end, but as the whole of the dock is reflooded, Randall-Page said that he expects his design to be put to functional use.

“The dock will be used for permanent moorings and eventually will also host a large dry dock for repairs and maintenance of barges,” he said.

“If it had to open every day, we would have employed a system which would make it faster to open and close but as it’s once a week this slow motion seems fine, even quite enjoyable.”

The dock was originally completed in 1871 by Imperial Chemical Company, and in 2009, a charity called Gasworks Dock Partnership was created to regenerate the site. Alongside the Cody Dock Rolling Bridge, it is now home to a number of galleries, cafes and other amenities.

Other uniquely designed footbridges include Sam Crawford Architects’ eel-shaped bridge in Sydney as well as a bridge in the Netherlands created in part from flax.

The photography and video are by Jim Stephenson.

Project credits: 

Design: Thomas Randall-Page
Structural engineering: Price & Myers
Mechanical engineering: Eadon Consulting
Fabrication: Cake Industries
Oak bending: Charlie Whinney Studio

The post Thomas Randall-Page completes Cody Dock Rolling Bridge in London appeared first on Dezeen.

Chiang Mai-based architecture studio Sher Maker designed a Chamchuri wood factory showroom in Chiang Mai in an effort to pay an ode to local craftsmanship. The factory was built in collaboration with local furniture factory Moonler. The longhouse showroom celebrates and shines a light on the materiality and traditional regional design to draw attention to the brand’s products and processes.

Designer: Sher Maker x Moonler

The Moonler furniture showroom was inspired by traditional Thai longhouses. The traditional architectural typology of these houses was picked up and artfully merged with the visual design language of a pavilion, in an attempt to capture the brand’s traditional values.  At the same time, Sher Maker made an effort to remain sensitive and empathetic to the natural environment surrounding the showroom.

Northern Thailand has an abundance of extremely talented and skilled wood artisans who create beautiful refined products from the local materials and elements available. Moonler is based in the area of Doi Saket in Chiang Mai, and builds tables, benches, stools, and other furniture pieces from Chamchuri wood. Moonler’s collaboration with Sher Maker is an initiative to celebrate and honor the traditions and products of the region. The showroom was designed to harmoniously blend with its surrounding natural environment, which it does so beautifully. It features a narrow long and imposing form with a gabled roof on top, which is linked to the entrance court. However, the showroom manages to look like a pavilion, which is connected to the rice field terrace.

Another notable aspect of the showroom is the fact that it really truly pays an ode to the factory’s craftsmen. This beautiful tribute can be seen throughout the entirety of the showroom. The wooden beams and columns woven throughout the showroom, resemble the Chamchuri wooden furniture pieces excellently. They impart the space with a warm and minimal vibe, that creates an interior that is both traditional and simple. All the structural finishings and joinery implemented in the showroom accurately capture and incorporate Moonler’s furniture construction processes. They stand in “powerful silence as Moonler’s philosophy.” Moonler’s handcrafted furniture designs have been showcased throughout the showroom.

The post This longhouse showroom pays tribute to local craftsmanship in Chiang Mai first appeared on Yanko Design.

Architects must stop using the vacuous buzzwords that dominate the profession if they are to make a positive difference in the world, writes Reinier de Graaf.

“A civilizational revolution that puts humans first”. “An unprecedented urban living experience”. “A model for nature preservation and enhanced human livability”. “A place for people from across the globe to make their mark on the world in creative and innovative ways, created by a team of world-class architects and engineers”.

These are all phrases taken from a press release for The Line, Saudi Arabia’s sci-fi megastructure.

The language to promote architecture has become universal. Be it The Line, King Charles‘ Poundbury or, more recently, the idea to create a School of Place to “revitalize Britain’s built environment”, backed by UK housing secretary Michael Gove, anything to do with architecture is invariably marketed with the same buzzwords.

Anything to do with architecture is invariably marketed with the same buzzwords

New projects are either “world-class”, “award-winning”, “creative”, “innovative”, “sustainable”, “livable”, “beautiful” or all those combined, and more than seldom foster “a sense of place and wellbeing”. These have become the obvious terms of choice, embraced by the Left and the Right, by democracies and dictatorships, in the West as much as in the rest of the world – applied in perfect alignment, and always without a shred of irony.

What is the significance of such buzzwords? When does a building warrant the label “world-class”? What makes one city more “livable” than the next, one building more “beautiful” than the other? What is the meaning of “creativity” or “innovation” in architecture? What building can credibly claim to improve anyone’s “wellbeing”?

The urge to claim such attributes hides a grim reality: Vancouver, ranked among the world’s most livable cities for 10 consecutive years, has been forced to introduce a vacancy tax; the zero-carbon, zero-waste city of Masdar is about to turn into the world’s first green ghost town; Pittsburgh, a city undergoing multiple creative-industry-driven revivals, only did so to end up where it started; and Heatherwick Studio’s placemaking icon Vessel remains shut after a spate of suicides.

What are we to conclude when livable cities are too expensive to be lived in, eco ambitions prove unsustainable, creativity equals stagnation, innovation implies regress, and larger-than-life landmarks end up being a springboard to death?

The more architecture is explained, the more architects seem to owe the world an explanation. All too often, our craft ends up being on the wrong side of history: complicit in escalating house prices, an integral part of the largest CO2-emitting industry, oblivious to the political machinations it helps perpetuate.

Idolized for much of the 20th century, architecture today mostly registers as a cause for concern – a discipline to be scrutinized and kept in check. The incorporation of extraneous terms such as “livability”, “innovation” or “wellbeing” into the glossary of architecture is far from coincidental; it is part of an ongoing trend, in which the language to debate architecture is less and less architects’ own, and more and more that of outside forces imposing outside expectations.

The architecture profession has become moot

Once a discipline of foresight – a domain that created standards – architecture is progressively expected to comply to standards set by others. From architects trying to explain to the world what they are doing, we increasingly witness a world in which architects are told what they ought to be doing, forced to adopt ever-more extreme postures of virtue, held to account by the world of finance, the social sciences and even the medical sector, each with less disputable evidence at their disposal.

Confronted with ever-growing armies of “thought leaders”, “strategy consultants”, “content specialists”, advocates of “best practice” and “subject-matter experts”, the architecture profession has become moot, left with no other option than to mimic the language of those who have co-opted its intellectual domain.

Listening to any contemporary conversation on architecture is like being indulged in a form of Orwellian Newspeak, which, in the name of “the good”, has banned all antonyms. The discourse that ensues is as uncontestable as it is uncomfortable. What architect, in their right mind, would wish for people to be unhealthy, want to design unlivable buildings, or put humans last?

And yet, I wonder: what becomes of architecture if the sole ambition of architects is to live up to expectations? What remains of our work once it becomes an echo-chamber of universally applied buzzwords? Not much, probably. In echoing the words of others, architects will most likely find themselves driven further into a corner, unable to make any meaningful difference, at the mercy of extraneous quests which they are neither able to resist nor capable of fulfilling.

In a world facing the imminent consequences of climate change, pervasive economic inequality, and a resurgence of authoritarian rule, much of the prevailing rhetoric will prove all but a lofty waste of time. If architects really wish to engage with the issues of our time on their own terms, they best start by addressing these issues in their own terms.

Reinier de Graaf is a Dutch architect and writer. He is a partner in the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and co-founder of its think-tank AMO. He is the author of Four Walls and a Roof: The Complex Nature of a Simple Profession, the novel The Masterplan, and the forthcoming Architect, verb: The New Language of Building.

The image, showing part of the cover of Architect, verb: The New Language of Building, is courtesy of Verso Books.

The post “Listening to any contemporary conversation on architecture is like being indulged in a form of Orwellian Newspeak” appeared first on Dezeen.

The Ukrainian postal service Ukrposhta has released a stamp featuring an image by British artist Banksy and the words FCK PTN! to mark one year since the start of the war in Ukraine.

A year on from Russia’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine, the national postal service has issued a stamp called FCK PTN!, which depicts a boy winning a judo fight against a grown man.

The artwork, which is an allegory of Ukraine defeating Russia by “pinning it to the mat”, was originally drawn by Banksy on the wall of a destroyed house in Borodyanka.

The stamps feature the words FCK PTN! in Cyrillic lettering – the alphabet used by Slavic-speaking people – in the bottom left corner.

“We believe that the Ukrainian postage stamp ‘FCK PTN!’ will also become prophetic,” said Ukrposhta director general Igor Smelyanskyi.

“And in 2023, Ukraine, which is smaller in terms of territory but hundreds of times more motivated, will finally ‘pin Russia to the mat’.”

Banksy mural pokes fun at Vladimir Putin

According to Ukrposhta, the anonymous artist Banksy travelled to Borodyanka in the autumn of 2022 and graffitied a number of buildings in the town, which had been destroyed by Russian shelling in the spring of 2022.

After the town was seized, Ukrainian officials accused the Russians of committing mass war crimes there.

The image used on the stamp references Russian president Vladimir Putin’s love of judo. He is known to be a black belt in the martial art form.

“A little boy who knocks out a grown man is an allegorical image – this is the struggle of Ukraine against the Russian Federation,” the Ukrainian postal service said when revealing the special release.

“Our small country, compared to Russia, courageously entered into an unequal battle with the enemy and, despite all the difficulties, is fighting for victory.”

The first stamp sheets were unveiled at the main post office in Kyiv. Each stamp can be used to send a letter weighing up to 50 grams within the country.

In total, Ukrposhta has released 250,000 sheets of six stamps. An envelope, postcard, folder, frame and hoodie have also been released in conjunction with the stamp. A percentage of each sale will be donated to educational institutions affected by the war.

Stamp follows Crimean bridge-attack stamp

The stamp is not the first stamp that Ukrposhta has issued in response to the war. In October, it released a Titanic-themed stamp designed by Ukrainian painter Yuriy Shapoval to mark an explosion on the bridge connecting Crimea and Russia.

The war in Ukraine has prompted a number of responses from designers and artists, who showed their solidarity with Ukraine by sharing designs on social media.

Other designers have responded by selling prints to raise funds to help those affected and launching auctions on Instagram.

Banksy is known for his politically charged works. Among them are a mural that pokes fun at Brexit and a sketch for a slavery memorial.

The image is courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post Ukraine issues postage stamp featuring “prophetic” Banksy artwork appeared first on Dezeen.