This Stool Rocks the Future of Furniture Design

'This Stool Rocks' by Irish-born, London-based designer and Fabsie founder James McBennett is not only an exploration of innovative tools for designing and making furniture — it proposes a revolutionary re-invention of the production chain.

With ‘FUKTA’ and ‘FARTFULL’, we are not saying naughty words — we’re talking about classic IKEA products. While the ‘FARTFULL’ portable workbench might not be the most pleasantly named piece of furniture you will ever put in your shed, you can easily assemble it with that famous little hex key, which revolutionized the world of furniture in the late 1950s. ‘This Stool Rocks’ combines the ‘assemble-at-home’ concept with new production tools such as laser cutters and 3D printers.

This Stool Rocks

But what makes this project unique is that McBennett’s company Fabsie works with a network of local manufacturers. When customers order a stool, the digital file will be sent to a local maker near them who makes the piece of furniture and delivers it. Big advantages of this decentralization of production is that it’s faster and it leads to a more direct supply chain. Imagine a future in which you order a new piece of design furniture from an online catalogue, that will be produced at the 3D printshop around the corner, and directly delivered to your door.

This Stool Rocks

Upon arrival the ‘This Stool Rocks’ can be assembled by means of stragically placed slots, which makes it possible to assemble and take apart the stool in less than a minute. There are multiple variants of the stool made for people that ‘rock’ in different ways, like ‘Hard Rock’ (rocks 360 degrees), ‘Soft Rock’ (rocks forwards and backwards) and ‘Easy Rock’ (only rocks forwards).

‘This Stool Rocks’ is on Kickstarter and by pledging £35 you are ensured of a great looking rocking stool that contributes to a re-invention of the production chain. With the revolution of new, local production tools, even that trip to IKEA every now and then becomes obsolete. I cannot imagine a reason to visit the furniture store in the future other than the Swedish meatballs…

PUC × Pivot Dublin

In April 2013, Pivot Dublin invited us to spend two weeks in the Irish capital. We hopped from district to district to fully experience, explore and report trends, stories and ideas right from Dublin’s vibrant design community.

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Street Feast: A National Social Lunch Day for Ireland

On Tuesday afternoon we visited South Studios, one of Dublin's creativity hubs. During lunch around the corner at the wonderful Fumbally we ran into Samuel Bishop, designer and co-founder of Street Feast, a day of local lunches in public spaces all around Ireland on June 23rd, hosted by the people.