'the growing stool' by i wen lee

‘the growing stool’ is a result of i-wen lee‘s final project from her studies at central saint martins in london. questioning the issue of mass production in the furniture industry, lee asks whether an emotional attachment can be created if the production process of an object is slowed down.

‘the growing stool’

the result is ‘the growing stool’ a project which explores the development of furniture through a physical ‘growing process’, generating objects which evolve over a period of time. lee developed a manufacturing device influenced by the principle behind zen gardening. four funnel components sit at the top of the ‘tower’ with an adjustable shelf below, which can be moved to different heights along the manufacturing device. fluid material is pushed and poured through the funnels, dripping downwards onto the shelf, gradually forming the legs of the stool. as the deposit builds up, the shelf is moved to a lower level on the tower in order to continue the growing process. this continues until you have determined the height of stool you desire, or until you’ve reached the bottom level. the growing furniture interprets the biomimicry of stalactites whose forms are derived from deposit drippings. the trace on the surface of each drip indicates the records and experiences made by human participation. the seat of the stool is then poured onto the shelf base and built up to the appropriate thickness for stability.

lee experimented with various deposit materials including: clear resin and glass fibre, cotton, jesmonite, latex.

the components of the manufacturing device