![](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/two-colour-stool-naoya-matsumoto-design_furniture_dezeen_hero-852x479.jpg)
Naoya Matsumoto Design creates two-tone stools
Japanese studio Naoya Matsumoto Design has launched a collection of simple kitchen stools that are painted at the top and left with a natural finish lower down.
![Dear K stool by Naoya Matsumoto Design](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/Two-Color-Stool-by-Naoya-Matsumoto-Design_dezeen_sqa.jpg)
Designed for breakfast bars, the wooden Dear K stools feature a disc-shaped seat and matching larger footrest below.
The components are held together by four plank-like legs attached perpendicularly to the curve of the seat and footrest.
![Two Color Stool by Naoya Matsumoto Design](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/Two-Color-Stool-by-Naoya-Matsumoto-Design_dezeen_468_8.jpg)
"I wanted to design a kitchen counter stool, because I think good food leads to people's delight," said Naoya Matsumoto, who set up his eponymous studio in 2013.
![Two Color Stool by Naoya Matsumoto Design](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/Two-Color-Stool-by-Naoya-Matsumoto-Design_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
"By not using a square, the stool has a simple shape. From whichever angle it's seen, the beautiful, tireless design is considered," the designer told Dezeen.
![Two Color Stool by Naoya Matsumoto Design](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/Two-Color-Stool-by-Naoya-Matsumoto-Design_dezeen_468_2.jpg)
The seat and top half of the legs are finished with a thinned grey, black or white paint that allows the grain of the white ash wood to show through.
![Two Color Stool by Naoya Matsumoto Design](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/Two-Color-Stool-by-Naoya-Matsumoto-Design_dezeen_468_3.jpg)
The footrest and bottom half of the legs, which would get scuffed if painted, are left with a natural finish.
![Two Color Stool by Naoya Matsumoto Design](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/Two-Color-Stool-by-Naoya-Matsumoto-Design_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
"Grey suits every kind of clothes," said Matsumoto. "Paint can tear off the bottom so it just wasn't applied in the first place."
![Two Color Stool by Naoya Matsumoto Design](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/02/Two-Color-Stool-by-Naoya-Matsumoto-Design_dezeen_468_7.jpg)
Previous projects from the studio include a pop-up bar in a Japanese gallery, the interior of which was clad in swathes of crumpled tracing paper.
Photography by Kazuaki Michishita.