Something old

i. Stool
Verner Panton

The enfant terrible of Danish design, Panton established his studio in 1955, having previously worked for another iconic Danish designer, Arne Jacobsen. In addition to his innovative lighting and textile designs, Panton is lauded for re-inventing the simple, elegant lines of traditional Danish wooden furniture in new mediums and colours. This stool, originally made for Plus Linje of Copenhagen, features a cone-shaped laminate body upholstered in polyurethane foam under a vibrant green, man-made fabric. Supported on a stainless steel base, it is a classic example of Panton’s pop art aesthetic.
€400-€500.
www.herr-auktionen.de

ii. Piano stool
Carlo Bugatti

Although Bugatti, a Milanese architect and designer, worked under the umbrella of the late 19th- and early 20th-century art nouveau movement (known in Italy as “style liberty”), his work was so individualistic as to almost defy any categorisation other than “Bugatti”. A typical and unique blend of Gothic, Moorish and Oriental influences are evident in both the form and decoration of this piano stool. Supporting a domed seat upholstered in camel skin, its architectural base is fashioned from ebonised wood inlaid with white metal kanji (oriental characters), with copper and bone accents. $10,000-$12,000.
www.ragoarts.com

iii. Stool
Chinese

This drum-shaped stool was made in China during the early years of the Qing (also known as Manchu) dynasty (1644-1912). While its circular top is fashioned from demi-lune sections of smooth softwood, its base is comprised of gnarled root wood. The latter is a highly intricate composition of figures and abstract forms – not sculpted by human hand but naturally occurring in the growth of the wood. As such, this is in the Buddhist and Daoist traditions of the decorative arts, which seek inspiration and beauty in the unaffected organic forms of nature.
$1,500-$2,000.
www.freemansauction.com

iv. Adjustable stool
French

Part of the appeal of this stool is an adjustable seat, which can be revolved up and down via a threaded mechanism concealed in the base. But its desirability ultimately resides in its flamboyant style. Carved from walnut during the French Second Empire (1852-1870), it recalls late 17th- and early-18th-century baroque forms, most notably in its scallop shell-like seat. This is raised on a tripod base in which cabriole legs are, like the serpentine frieze, decorated with floral motifs. The paw feet, like the central column, are enhanced with gadrooning.
£2,700-£3,500.
www.richardgardnerantiques.co.uk

v. Bench-stool
English

This magnificent bench-stool is from a suite commissioned by the Duke of Northumberland during the reign of George IV (1820-1830). However, as a replication of a suite originally produced for the Earl of Shrewsbury around 1750, it is fashioned in the Roman-inspired neo-classical style that had come into vogue late in the reign of George II (1727-1760). This is evident in the giltwood base that, under a silk damask-covered seat, comprises a frieze carved with C-scrolls, acanthus leaves and a diaper-work ground, merging into four cabriole legs carved with C-scrolls, husks and paw feet.
£28,000.
www.partridgefineart.com

Judith Miller is the author of annual antiques and collectables guides for Millers

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Something new

1. Love
Stephen Burks

Through Readymade Projects, his New York studio, industrial designer Burks is getting a bit of a following, not only for his work for high-end Italian brands such as Boffi, Tod’s and B&B Italia but also for his ethical and sustainable design projects for Artecnica and Aid To Artisans. He manages to combine both with Love, made of shredded recycled magazines, layered through a technique similar to papier mâché and then coated with a non-toxic hardener. It is outsourced by Cappellini to artisans in South Africa. Officially a table, it works as a stool.
From €798-€1,597.
www.cappellini.it

2. Vol II
Konstantin Grcic

Last year Galerie Kreo held a group show, inviting its stable of designers each to create a stool. For Grcic, a Munich-based industrial designer, this was a rare freedom, without the usual constraints of commercial production. The resulting piece, higher than a chair but with a smaller seat, is constructed in “a nice leather which will age really well” because Grcic worked with saddle maker, though he says the process was more difficult than he expected. The designer is as interested in the “misuse” of the stool – some people use it as a place to rest books, for example – as much as its conventional use.
€6,500.
www.galeriekreo.com

3. Vendôme
Clemens Weisshaar and Reed Kram

Although Weisshaar is based in Munich and Kram works in Stockholm, together they form the multidisciplinary design office Kram/Weisshaar. Their clients include Prada, Classicon and Nymphenburg. Vendôme was originally commissioned for Design Miami/Basel this June, where the duo were one of the selected Designers of the Future, invited to create original works in concrete. Vendôme consists of a series of 99 objects (stools, pedestals or tables – you decide) all cast in self-compacting, bi-coloured, fibre-reinforced concrete, the forms “parametrically generated” via specially created software, which also automatically produced the geometry for the mould.
From €6,000-12,000.
www.kramweisshaar.com

4. I Beam
Matthew Hilton

Hilton established his London design studio in 1985 and launched his eponymous brand at 100% Design last year. This spring he joined forces with De La Espada, a UK-based specialist in the production of contemporary solid wood furniture, which now manufactures for him in its dedicated factory in Portugal. The seven understated pieces, in solid American black walnut or American white oak, include I Beam, which looks like a piece of the I-shaped load-bearing steel section used in building construction. Strictly speaking it’s a side table but it is strong enough to sit on and, if you already have too many tables, to call it a stool.
£900-£995.
www.delaespada.com

5. Pk91 folding chair
Poul Kjærholm

Kjærholm, celebrated in 2006 with a major retrospective exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, north of Copenhagen, is one of the great Danes, revered as a master of contemporary modern furniture. In 1950, after studying under both Hans J. Wegner and architect Jørn Utzon, he began to develop his now classic range of furniture for manufacturer E. Kold Christensen. Pk91 was designed in 1958. Its beauty lies in the propeller-like twist to the satin brushed stainless steel frame. Manufactured by Fritz Hansen since 1980, it is much imitated but has never been bettered.
From €1,641 to €2,133.
www.fritzhansen.com

Nick Vinson is special projects director at Wallpaper* magazine