Classical Japanese stools were generally used in baths, so the term ‘bath stool’ (バ ス ス ツ ー ル) remained in the Japanese public consciousness. The bath stool was characterized by being made of Hinoki cypress, a slow-growing hardwood species. The typological characteristic of the stool is that it usually consists of four elements, and the result of the fusion of tapping and gluing the elements created an archaic form. The legs do not engage the ground perpendicular, but open at an obtuse angle, and the two legs are pulled together by a central connecting element. An important aspect in the design was the simplicity, the mixing of the materials, but most of all the playful functionality of the central element. It’s playful with generous overhanging and intentional pushing to the wind, but it’s also functionally correct as it actually holds the opening legs together. It was part of the experiment to get an elementary form back into our environment today, rewriting, abstracting it. The dynamics created by the game of materials seek to keep fresh and break the homogeneity of an object with a fundamentally monolithic tradition. Its robustness and small stature radiate security and stability.
