Dezeen Showroom: London designer Daniel Schofield has launched the Crofton Stool collection made from locally sourced pine for Danish design company Please Wait to be Seated at 3 Days of Design.
The slender stool, which comes in three sizes and is made entirely from Nordic pine, was taken up by Please Wait to be Seated after creative director Thomas Ibsen saw the piece and got in touch with Schofield.
Schofield originally designed the stool in ash for an alumni stand at his university, Sheffield Hallam, at Salone del Mobile in 2018.
His aim was to create a robust stool that has a slender width but is still suitable for both bar and work areas.
The design of the Crofton Stool is reminiscent of Asian design traditions, though Schofield says this was more of a happy coincidence than something he had planned.
"I think that is something which Please Wait to be Seated see in the design, which I'm happy with!" he told Dezeen.
"Like many designers, I think the Asian aesthetic is a great influence on my work. It also has a lot to do with simplicity, so maybe that's where they see the link."
His intention with the Crofton Stool was to create a compact yet comfortable stool. "The design originally set out to try and save space when not in use and pushed up next to bars or workspaces, but still offer lots of comfort and solidity," he said.
The stools are made from pine, a decision that Please Wait to be Seated made as the material is not only local but also fast-growing, which makes it a more sustainable option than many other types of wood.
"When you harvest the pine – in Sweden, Norway and Denmark – the forest owners plant new trees straight away, which creates a circle," Please Wait to be Seated creative director Thomas Ibsen told Dezeen.
"Oak and ash grow very slow, so when it is cut it takes a hundred years for new trees to grow. And back in the days, pine was used for everything in Denmark – we didn't import trees."
Schofield highlighted the use of the Nordic pine by following the grain of the wood when placing each piece and enhancing the surface with a subtle wood stain. He hopes that using it for the Crofton collection will help people to re-evaluate the material.
"Probably because it's so ubiquitous to the area its perception can be somewhat undervalued, and Thomas really wanted to challenge that perspective," the designer said.
Named after Schofield's local London area, Crofton Park, the collection was unveiled at Please Wait to be Seated's new showroom in Copenhagen as part of the 3 Days of Design festival.
The annual Danish design festival is spread across a number of showrooms, studios, shops and event spaces in the Danish capital and was originally set to take place in May, but had been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Product: Crofton Stool collection
Brand: Please Wait to be Seated
Designer: Daniel Schofield
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