room for two stool

Wouldn’t it be great if your furniture could change shape to fit whatever need you have at the moment? The Room for Two stool from designer Karthik Poduval is a compact little seat for one when you need to save space, but it easily expands to fit two when you could use a bit of extra room.

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Inspired by the conflicting needs to both save and expand available space, Poduval invented the stool as a way of inventing a new, shared space. The Room for Two looks like a regular stool with just enough room for one person’s behind. When someone else needs to occupy approximately the same space, one end of the stool easily pulls out to accommodate both.

room for two stool expanded

The trick is in the construction. Each stool sports six legs and a top that is made of interlacing wood strips. When the stool is in its compact configuration, the wood strips are all pushed together and the top appears solid. But when pulled out, each seat gets half of the slats. There are then two legs at each end and another two legs in the middle of the bench-style seat.

room for two stool demonstration

The Room for Two comes in a tall version and a short version. The taller seat is made of ash and the smaller one is made of oak. The stools are available for purchase directly from the designer, with the lead time for a made-to-order stool being 2-3 weeks.

“The Room for Two Stool was initially born out of an interest in creating space-saving furniture for both public and domestic use in our increasingly crowded cities, but in use, becomes a fun and innovative way to share space – rather than save it. The stool, sleek and modular – is made from only 8 different components – while still being sturdy and thoughtfully designed. Available at two heights, [0.8 metres] and [0.45 m], the bar stool is made from solid ash and the short stool is made from oak. Materials are all locally sourced in the UK.”

“A recent graduate from Camberwell College of Art, Karthik Poduval has already garnered a significant amount of attention, having had work exhibited at the V&A in April 2012, at the prestigious Design Junction in 2013, part of London Design Festival, and being listed in Wallpaper* Magazine’s Graduate Directory 2014 as being among the world’s best graduate design talent.”