An Industrialist’s Stool

Drawing by Author

My original project is designing a stool built around reused bike parts that match the aesthetic of the 1970s ‘Bike Boom’. This aesthetic mirrors the hipster grunge of that era, and the paint jobs all featured popping colors. Bikes were heavily used to replace cars in urban areas, invoking feelings of clean air, a low carbon footprint, and a green, clean way of living. The opposite of that aesthetic would be something against the use of bikes. Instead of the popping colors of the 1970s, we have dark grey monotones. Instead of the slick carbon and aluminum frame, which were designed minimally to improve aerodynamics, there are bulky cut sheets of metal that serve no purpose other than to add weight. The “clean, green way of living” is replaced with a gas-guzzling machine that revokes notions of environmentalism. This contrast calls to mind the stark opposition between two worlds. When adding these elements up, I picture a dark and gloomy motorcycle. To blend it with my current project, the stool made from its reused parts could have a seat crafted from a refurbished leather saddle, mounted on a hulking shell of sheet metal, loosely welded together. The stool becomes a symbol of wastefulness, a reflection of industrial overconsumption, contrasting sharply with the sustainable ideals of the ‘Bike Boom’. Its heavy, jagged form would speak to an era of pollution and excess.