chairs

Counter Stool

Bent-laminated ash arches carrying a wool felt seat.

A counter-height stool in pale ash with a grey wool felt seat, three-quarter view
Three-quarter
The stool seen from the side, showing the continuous bent arch from floor to seat
Side
The stool seen head on, showing the footrest ring and through-tenoned stretchers
Head on

Each side of the stool is one bent lamination that leaves the floor, turns across the seat and returns to the floor again — a single line doing the work of two legs and a rail. Thin plies of ash were glued over a form, so the grain follows the curve instead of running out of it, which is what lets the frame stay this slender and still take a grown adult's weight without complaint.

The seat is heavy wool felt, stretched between the two arches. It gives slightly, it warms up, and it takes the hardness out of a piece that is otherwise all wood. The footrest is a second lamination, ringed around the front and sides where shoes actually land, and pinned to the legs with wedged through tenons.

Specifications

Species
White ash
Availability
Commission — made to your counter height

Interested in this piece?

Every piece is built to order. Tell Matt what you have in mind — the room, the species, the dimensions — and he'll take it from there.

Close view of the wool felt seat meeting the laminated ash frame at the corner

More work

All work
Piece layout Big photo Three details