THE ROCKING STOOL

A DYNAMIC SEATING OBJECT OF MOLDED MAPLE, MAHOGANY, AND POPLAR PLY

The Rocking Stool, inspired by the amount of time I sit on yoga blocks at a low table, and the joy, fun, and dynamism of Thomas Heatherwick's Spinning Chair, is a low to the ground seating object that allows for many positions, postures, and play.

Using AutodeskFusion, I digitally modelled a mold and physically fabricated it in MDF using a CNC router. Glued layers of veneer were placed over the mold and a vacuum bag pressed the veneer over the mold. The glue sets, and the plywood now hold its new three dimensional form and is ready to be trimmed and assembled. This design consists of one main arc with secondary pinched curves in the middle. These additional curves made the mold making process tricky. Seven iterations lead me a to a final successful mold in which the veneer could bend in both directions without cracking or pinching. 

Imagery from the CNC toolpathing process for the main curved mold, and the two-part mold for the brackets. 

Green images show the 'roughing' stage, and blue shows final tool path.

The main curved pieces were trimmed with a jig saw and rasps. The edges were smoothed on a 4" spindle sander. The brackets were molded in a two part mold with clamps that pressed the male and female sides together, as opposed to a vacuum bag like the main pieces. They were trimmed with a template using a band saw and disk sander. The pieces were joined using epoxy and hand crafted dowels made from maple and mahogany. Dowels are gently domed and the brackets also offer a subtle handle to use while adjusting your position. Each stool was sanded and finished with a blend of oil, thinner, and varnish.