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The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker; all craftsmen making their own products by hand. Nowadays, the only craftsmen left are just able to scrape by thanks to loyal customers who appreciate something prepared with a little tender loving care. Some professions out there are almost extinct, but luckily there are still people with passion who keep the fire burning. One of these is the talented designer Jólan van der Wiel.
The Gravity Stool
Last summer he graduated from the Rietveld Academie here in Amsterdam and he’s already been in loads of magazines, exhibitions, prize nominations; the works. What was the reason for this publicity explosion? His graduation project, the Gravity Stool. A disturbingly beautiful piece of furniture, slash work of art.
Gravity Stool from Miranda Stet on Vimeo.
“As a designer I want to use the existing forces around us; I wanted to do something that forms itself, a natural phenomenon.” Each stool is handmade by using a machine that Jólan built himself, the Magnet Machine. “I used the idea of gravity as my starting point and things just started rolling. It’s sort of like a magnetic field, scaled down to a level where you can control it.”
I wanted to design a natural phenomenon.
Jólan determines the rough guidelines; in this case a stool. From there the shape of the final result is formed, purely through the natural process it undergoes. The specially developed plastic material is pulled into shapes created by natural forces, no electricity is involved except for the light in the room.
He was recently nominated for the D3 Prize, a very respected award for young designers. Jólan is currently experimenting with other shapes and forms, trying to push his findings even further. So definitely keep an eye out for this guy. And in case you were wondering; yes, you are able to sit on the stools without them breaking.
Photos courtesy of Jac van der Wiel.
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