Occam Stools

Category: Furniture

The Occam Collection of stools is the result of a material focused design project for Benchmark Furniture that explores No.1 Common. No.1 Common is a classification of American hardwoods that is underutilised due to its mid tier ranking in the AHEC classification system. This means that timber that is classified as No.1 Common features colour changes, wavy grain and other so called 'defects' in the actual timber whilst remaining structurally sound. The Occam project aims to highlight the natural beauty of timber through a hands off design approach that allows the material to speak for itself. Using a contemporary approach, I designed a system of making based on a set of rules to make use of No.1 Common off cuts. By working closely with the material, I identified that the material could decide what form it wanted to take that would best show its qualities. The rules were used to make the structure of the stools logical, implementing subtle features for use whilst minimising waste. I refused to cut anything from the material, the material had already been cut and used once, why cut it again? I simply trimmed edges to create straight square boards and connected them using glulam techniques found in architecture. This keeps the material value high, meaning that at end of life the stools can be disassembled into the same material I used to create them. Using this technique, I was able to combine a wide range of species into the same object. Each stool includes American Ash, Oak, Cherry and Beech to name a few. The result of the project was two stools and one bar stool. The two stools came first as I wanted to focus on the least 'usable', smallest, pieces that were provided. As I designed the rules, it became clear that they could be applied to any size waste materials, naturally producing a different object to a stool. From this came the bar stool which applied the same rules to larger material. By accepting the material as it is and not trying to bend it to my will, objects had their form and function decided by said materials.

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