Turtle Stool
Interlocking seat without nails or screws
Furniture Design, 2017
Concept
I like objects that look like other objects; they bind together two ideas with a single form. When I thought of types of stools, I gravitated toward a stool that looked like a small animal. In particular, a turtle seemed to be the appropriate shape. Thinking about my favorite pieces of furniture, I was excited about adding dynamic elements to my piece - parts that physically move. A turtle shape encouraged that path with the addition of a removable shell. During the sketching process, I realized that the turtle head could also incorporate motion, mimicking turtle’s famous cautious withdrawal.
Structurally, once the seat box was established, the largest challenge was to attach sturdy legs. Mass marketed stools generally have slightly splayed legs for better support, which I opted to attempt despite the increase in complexity.
Prototyping
The first cardboard model of the stool had a square seat and legs parallel to the sides. The stool look like a box, and not at all like a Box Turtle. I added in catty-corner legs and truncated corners to invoke the turtle shape.
Prototyping with wood led to some confirmations and some failures of my original structures. Notched 2x4s worked well for the seat box, and a routered groove proved to hold the seat top to the seat box. However, my original design for the leg-to-seat connection did not leave enough wood on the legs for support. After some trials with to-scale sticky-notes, I experimented with a recess in the seat box into which the legs would slide. Even a roughly chiseled prototype gave me the confidence that a recess would hold the legs.
Free of Fasteners
One of the constraints of this project was to build with only 12 screws as fasteners, not enough to be the sole means of holding together the stool. As I explored means of screw-less joinery, I was inspired by the beauty and elegance of interlocking pieces. Creating notches, especially a slight angles, was a complex task but for a purpose.
In addition to the aesthetic wonder of avoiding fasteners, using zero screws has practical benefits. Easy onsite assembly makes flat-packing possible. By using joinery rather than fasteners, the stool is both more flexible to assemble and represents a more accessible product.
