Three legged folding stool

This tripod seat design has more than one clever twist to offer — beyond looking solid then sliding up into a compact, flat pack form, it uses the sitter’s weight to its advantage, growing more stable as additional pressure is added from above. While it’s noteworthy just for being neat and creative in its own right, this is more than just another shock-and-awe object. It would work in multiple materials with the same shape and functionality, stores well, uses standard fasteners and is constructed in a durable fashion to boot.

Surprisingly sturdy stool design

This folding stool gets stronger when you put weight on it

This clever and compact flat pack folding stool could theoretically hold more than a few people — though fitting them on there is obviously a bit of a trick, as you can see in the photo above. Completed by student Jack Smith as a graduate project at the Royal College of Art in the UK, this tripod stool design offers a simple yet innovative solution to a common problem.

Here’s how the designer describes his project:

“An occasional stool that folds away neatly and easily with minimal components. It folds away by picking up one side of the seat. Gravity, along with the angles used, enables the stool to fold out when put back down. The angle on top of the legs has been designed to add maximum strength. As weight is placed on the seat it pinches the top of the legs together creating a stronger join, the heavier the load the stronger the stool.”

It’s also nice to see such a compact portable design rendered in a high quality renewable material rather than plastic. It might be made of wood, but Smith’s folding stool design seems lightweight enough to tote around to all sorts of places — maybe even on a camping trip. How would you use it, if you had one?