Pinocchio
2022
Product Design
Production
Pinocchio is a hand-made stool, produced in beautifully grained white oak. Originally conceived as a narrow, minimalist piano stool to be tucked away under the stand, the design draws inspiration from the simple aesthetic dominating Japanese furniture.
The stool is also a showcase of traditional joinery, each part being connected to its adjacent with a different type of joint, 4 in total: mortise and tenon, blind mortise and tenon, box joint and dovetail joint.
But perhaps the most interesting part of the design is the story. As an aspiring carpenter, every time I worked on the piece and wore my apron, I was met with a jokingly “Geppetto, are you making Pinocchio?”
So a series of small quirky features were added to the design in order to make this statement true and give the piece that special character.
The 4 types of artisanal joinery found in the design, made using exclusively hand tools, are some of the oldest, most representative examples of the craft. They have all been used for centuries to construct cabinets, chairs and tables, and the dovetail joint, in particular, has extensively been chosen for its mechanical as well as decorative qualities.
For me, the goal was to learn about and engage with the beautiful process of marking, cutting, carving and glueing while paying homage to the woodworking tradition. An exercise on contemporary furniture design and minimalist beauty with a dash of craft fetishism.
“Geppetto, are you making Pinocchio?”
Thanks to Atelier Espenaer for all the wisdom and patience.
Photo credits: studio portrait by Carlos Victimo and workshop portrait by Hugo Caspers.