Wooden stool

Finished stool in plywood multilaminate — exterior view with the tubular geometry formed by the three curved walls.

Construction system

Component	Quantity	Function
Side wall (with living hinge)	3	Structure of the curved body
Top plate (seat)	1	Seat + top lock for the walls
Internal locks	3	Secure the walls from inside

Joint detail

Detail of the internal lock that keeps the walls in position — tab joint with no screws or nails.

Bottom view of the assembled stool — the three curved walls lock against the top plate, held in place by the internal locks.

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The stool ships as a flat-pack kit: 7 parts travel stacked and assemble on site without tools. Five-step sequence:

1. Identify the parts

The 7 parts resting on the circular top plate before assembly — 1 top + 3 walls + 3 internal locks. Everything fits on a single cut sheet.

2. Curve the wall using the living hinge

Side wall in its natural curved shape — the living hinge lets the rigid sheet take the curve without heat, steam or lamination.

The wall is held by hand to align the tabs with the slots in the top plate. The living-hinge friction holds the curve during assembly.

3. Lock the walls into the top plate

Two curved walls in position, ready to be combined with the third. Each wall covers one third of the cylinder.

Top plate seen from above — the three rectangular slots receive the upper tabs of the walls and define the tubular geometry.

4. Lock from the inside

Interior view — the three locking pieces pass through slots in the walls and clamp the assembly against the top plate. From this point on, the stool is structural.

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The same locking system that gives the stool its rigidity also lets you take it apart in seconds: pull the locks, the walls release from the top plate, and everything returns to flat-pack form.

Flat-pack benefits:

• Transport — the 7 stacked parts occupy the volume of a sheet of plywood.
• Repair — if one wall is damaged, the individual part is replaced without discarding the rest.
• Storage — when not in use it takes up the minimum footprint of the material.
• Circular economy — at end of life, parts separate cleanly for recycling or reuse.

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The key technique of the project is the living hinge: a series of parallel through-cuts on plywood that allows rigid sheet to curve without breaking. Each cut acts as a flex point, and the sum of many cuts produces controlled flexibility.

Detail of the living-hinge slots — rigid sheet becomes flexible and forms the cylinder curve.

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Full cut layout — 3 side walls (with living-hinge slots in light blue), 1 circular top and 3 locking pieces. All on a single sheet, optimizing material.