The LumBar Stool by James Douglas
British designer James Douglas has created the LumBar Stool.
Influenced by the alien landscapes of weather eroded rock formations. Especially “Mushroom rocks” a form in which the lower stone is carved away quicker than the top leaving a bulbous head stacked on top of a fragile stem.
I aimed to create a stool in which the user would be almost deifying gravity, being suspended above the floor on a tiny stem yet being fully supported. Plywood was the perfect material to use because the edge detail was a great way to create a contour and sediment look of my influential starting point.
It is constructed using 38 1″ layers of CNC cut ply board stacked on top of one another connected by one single 12mm steel bar located down the centre of the stool, which is simply tightened up by a nut and bolt system. Creating 1 solid and safe form to be used for seating.













John Welden on 27 Jul 2009 at 8:53 am #
Very nice, good job.
cevemeve on 27 Jul 2009 at 4:29 pm #
Ingenious… and funny, but I can’t believe one can be sitting there for a long time… What about a cushion?
James Douglas on 10 Aug 2009 at 2:11 am #
wow! it quite impressive seeing my work in a blog, quite flattered really.
i can say the stool you see here is a working prototype, there is a new design to solve the comfort issue. but still keeping with the layered style.
please give me feed back good or bad everything helps.
cheers!
Kyle Reilly on 31 Jan 2010 at 1:47 pm #
I think it is very cool. i kinda want one now.