One Tool One Stool

One Tool One Stool was a material and tool exploration.

"One Tool, One Stool" was a challenge done on my first year at the Royal College of Art focused on exploring materiality and material properties. Students were asked to use one tool and one material of their choosing to construct a stool capable of supporting one person's weight. My tool of choice was a scalpel/xacto knife, and I chose card paper as my material.

Using past experiences, I chose to use a lattice design structure for the stool, as it required no fasteners and was extremely strong. By using pre-cut lengths of card paper, I was able to construct a wide stool that needed no finely-cut edges.

It was tested, both sitting and standing, by a 100kg (220lb) fellow student in which it showed no signs of strain. The stool was also able to collapse into a small footprint, making it ideal for low-profile storage when not needed.

Overall, this small exploration was a good way to connect materiality and tools to see their relationship and I learned that seemingly simple techniques can have unknown and highly beneficial secondary traits.