BAR STOOL
SIMPLE FURNITURE
Fall 2025 - 5 weeks
The goal of simple furniture was to design and make a simple piece of furniture with expert craft.
With only five weeks to complete this project I had to keep the design simple.
But just because something’s simple, doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful.
RESEARCH
Before I could begin designing, I had to understand how to make strong long-lasting furniture. I researched different typology’s such as post beam, post slab, and post rung. Then I went to IKEA to see plenty of furniture pieces in person, taking a close look at how each piece is crafted and the joinery used.
INITIAL SKETCHES
I decided to design a bar stool. To do this I explored many different directions including different types of typology.
FURTHER SKETCHES
Something that comes to my mind when I think of bar stools is how nice it is when the bottom rung is at the perfect height for your feet. Including a rung designed to be a footrest became the focal point of my design. I also experimented with the idea of a leather cushion, which I ended up including in my final design.
ORTHOGRAPHIC + RENDERINGS
Key details include a unique footrest and a leather cushion.
BUILD PROCESS
I decided to use ash wood and black vinyl leather on my final because the blonde wood and black leather complimented each other very well. I started with the joiner and planer, then used various saws to cut my wood to size. Then I turned my rungs and legs on the lathe. I turned tenons on the ends of each rung and leg for joinery. An important detail was carving out a curve with the band saw on my bottom rung to serve as a footrest. After all the pieces were done I glued up the stool and used wedges to make the stool very strong, chiseling away the excess wood to smooth the top. Then I created the cushion using foam, Dacron, and vinyl leather. I finished the wood with Raw Osmo Oil then screwed in the top.
