Story at a glance:
- Dear Human released its Seats for One playful stool collection with Papertile in 2020.
- The bright orange color of the Dutch stool is influenced by the Netherlands and the national color.
- The stools featured in this series are made from oak and a recycled paper material.
Montreal-based Dear Human creates playful home decor, sustainable furniture, and art that is both whimsical and worldly. In works like their Seats for One collection launched in 2020 they combine recycled materials with subtle patterns, creating stools that add color and fun to any space.
The visual arts and design collective was founded in 2010 by Jasna Sokolovic and Noel O’Connell.
Design Details
1. Color
Courtesy of Dear Human
The bright orange legs of the Dutch Stool represent the Netherlands, as orange is the color of the Dutch royal family.
“That’s the reason for the name, but the reason for using the color is simply because we love it and it complements the subtle gray and white stripes nicely. We never shy away from bright color pops,” O’Connell says.
2. Post-Consumer Paper
Sketches of the Dear Human Seats for One collection. Courtesy of Dear Human
The tops of all of the stools in the Seats for One Collection are made from solid post-consumer paper, and the legs are painted oak. Inspired by the temples of MesoAmerica, details in the paper are revealed in the Ziggurat stool as the edges recede from the center seat.
“At Dear Human we have a history of making various seating (see Milking Stool, Sweet Seat, Soft Raft, Bibliotech Chair), so it was not a stretch for us to imagine how the material could be used as seating. After several experiments, models, and variations, we settled on this format,” O’Connell says. “With our CNC, it opened up a lot of possibilities for different scales and shapes, and this is what we wanted to explore with these.”
3. World Folk Traditions
Dear Human Oval Stool. Courtesy of Dear Human
While all of the seats are both clever and sustainable, they also pay homage to the past, as Dear Human wanted to create something that was endearing and creative.
“World folk traditions are big [parts] of just about everything we make,” O’Connell says. “For Seats for One, although some technology is used in making them, they are still very much made by hand in ways that ancient stools would have been made. Color and pattern and how we combine them are inspired by folk craft as well, from textiles, tiles, basketry, etc.”
