My hope with these stools was to develop a piece that was balanced comfort with simplicity of both line and construction. In other words, something that both sits well and looks halfway decent. The legs are very slightly tapered and splayed to make a light but extremely strong seat. Wood selection is critical: For structural reasons, absolutely straight stock must be used for the legs and rungs, while the "graphics" of the grain accentuate the shape of the seat.
The seat is fumed with ammonia, a technique that dates back to nineteenth-century English furnituremaking. The advantage of fuming, as opposed to dying or staining the wood, is that the wood itself is chemically altered (the tannins in the oak react with the ammonia to create a beautiful, warm brown color), meaning that the effect is light-fast - fumed oak will not fade over time. These stools will look good for a long, long time.
The through-mortised legs are secured with fumed-oak wedges. Each leg and rung is sawn from solid stock, then turned and tapered on a lathe. Each joint is fit to a tolerance of 1/1000 of an inch. Undersize parts will fall apart, oversize parts will crack. Sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to do.
Made to order. Please allow 6-8 weeks for delivery.
