Knit Stools by Claire-Anne O’Brien

Claire-Anne O’Brien, a recently graduated textile artist, has designed this delightfully tactile furniture series she has dubbed Knit Stools. The stools feature detailed woollen covers which become knitted sculptural forms that toy with scale and texture. These complex patterns are in fact inspired on the basic links, weaves, loops and knots of knitting at the individual strand level.

There’s something fascinatingly organic, almost microbial, about these stool pads with their repeated motifs of nodules and tubes; something between coral and a flu virus (in a good way of course). The chunky wool patterns of the doughnuts and folds are padded to form a springy surface.

These woollen creations are poised on tapered legs made of solid ash wood and can serve as both stools or footrests. Claire-Anne O’Brien initially found fame online with these knitted stools back in 2010, and has relatively recently began selling her products through GAN Rugs.