

words
Tabourets, the French word for stools, is an exhibition at Galerie Kreo in Paris for which 23 designers have produced one-off works. Contributors include Konstantin Grcic, Jasper Morrison, Hella Jongerius, Andrea Branzi, Fernando Brizio and Julia Lohmann (read our profile).
Kreo’s founder, Didier Krzentowski, set the designers a nine-point philosophical and cultural brief to work on over two years. “The stool to me is less industrial than the chair,” Krzentowski says, “so I thought they could dream with that idea.”
Responses included Morrison’s shiny, minimalist three-legged stool in stainless steel, a terracotta thimble from Grcic and a log on wheels by Branzi.
Krzentowski’s interest in the stool stems back to the start of his career as a collector. “At the beginning of the 20th century, a lot of farmers in the mountains made their stools themselves,” he says. “So when I started my collection, I got these pieces that were very simple and were done by people who didn’t know anything about design. I was very interested to see what the answer could be for these contemporary designers.”
Lohmann’s contribution provoked the letter from Alessandro Mendini that can be read on page 39. Tabourets is on at the gallery until 24 November.