Studio Adjective devises easy-to-assemble stool for Ishinomaki Laboratory

Hong Kong-based Studio Adjective has designed a minimal and lightweight three-legged stool for furniture brand Ishinomaki Laboratory in Japan.

Founded in 2011 as a public workshop for the local community devastated by the tsunami, Ishinomaki Laboratory is known for producing simple and easy-to-construct wooden furniture.

The Tripodal stool, which is easily portable thanks to a hole in its seat, is composed of just six rectangular pieces of Japanese cedar, comprising three chair legs, two seat plates and a low back.

The sitting plates and slanted central leg are connected in such a way that the stool requires no other stabilising structure.

The stool can also be used as a bedside table with the gap in its seat providing space for the cord of a table lamp or mobile phone charger cable.

Set up by Emily Ho and Wilson Lee, creative multidisciplinary design agency Studio Adjective has been shortlisted in the inaugural Dezeen Awards’ Health and Wellness interior category for its design of a greenery-filled clinic in Chaoyang, China.

The stool marks the studio’s first project with the Japanese brand, which has previously collaborated with Keiji Ashisawa, Tomoko Azumi and Torafu Architects, who made A-shaped stools that slot together to make a bench.

In its early days, Ishinomaki Laboratory worked together with local high school students to build more than 40 benches for an outdoor cinema. In the autumn of 2011, Herman Miller joined the assistance program collaborating with the Laboratory to run furniture workshops for locals, with the furniture constructed offered free of charge.

The brand still runs design workshops to share DIY skills and ideas, despite the fact that it now produces pieces for an audience beyond the local community.

In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, many designers responded with projects to raise money for the disaster relief, including John Pawson who designed ribbons that could be downloaded on payment of donation, and Delphine Perrot’s heart-shaped logo to encourage people to donate.

Read more

• Furniture
• Design