Double Happy Bar Stool

A bold, substantial seat for daily use. The cast bronze ring anchors four American ash legs to the wide, contoured seat.

The Double Happy was designed in 2012, aiming to express the most fundamental characteristics of one of the oldest pieces of furniture: a place to sit. The bar and kitchen variants came into being in 2022, with a decision to treat the footrest like the threshold of a good hotel. A solid bronze ring anchors the stool, promising to shine with age and use.

American Ash is chosen for the body of the stool, a strong wood with a distinctive grain, but light in colour and weight. The seat is thick, with a soft radiused edge that’s easy on the thighs, and a scooped surface to be comfortable for long periods.

The foot rest is cast in bronze with a high copper content reflecting hues of pink and orange. The bronze is hand-fettled after casting, then shot-blasted to a rough finish that will polish to a deep shine over time.

Longevity is difficult to estimate but with a 45mm thick solid wood seat and a footrest that will not corrode, I expect it to serve for generations of everyday life - a hundred years, or maybe two. By distilling the form down to the essential archetype of the object, I hope for aesthetic longevity too. Less certain is whether we’ll have use for such things by then.