Dutch Design Week 2014: The most recognisable paintings from the art collection of Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum are printed onto the seats of these plywood stools by Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek.

Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek designed the Plywood Print Stool collection for the Dutch wallpaper manufacturer NLXL LAB.

Hein Eek combined modern wood cutting and printing technology with traditionally painted images by Dutch Masters, sourced from the collections of the Rijksmuseum.

The designer used a specialised wood printer developed by Canon to create the printed seats for the stools, which were influenced by the reproductions of famous paintings often found on museum gift shop items.

"This product can only exist through today's techniques, CNC wood cutting machines and wood enabled printers," said Hein Eek, who launched a range of chunky wooden furniture constructed from the small off-cuts earlier this year.

By printing directly onto the surface of the seat, the grain of the plywood shows through the reproduced paintings and drawings.

According to the designer, it was the contrast between different production processes, materials and images that led to the development of the stool.

"I thought it would be a great idea to combine these innovations with century-old Dutch Masters from the Rijksmuseum collection," said the designer.

The stools come flat-packed in bags designed to be hung from shop display rails, and are designed to be self-assembled. Three tapered plywood legs slot together to form a base for the seat.

The Plywood Print Stool follow Hein Eek's Scrapwood Wallpaper range for the brand – a matte printed wallpaper that mimics the texture of wood – and are the first non-wallpaper product to be sold by NLXL.

The collection will be on display at Dutch Design Week, taking place from 18 to 26 October in Eindhoven, where Hein Eek is also showing a rug patterned with grids and circles as part of a range by other Netherlands-based designers.