I am an architect who is drawn to simplicity and after many years working on many types of buildings, I decided to turn towards the design of something truly simple: the stool. It is modest with an unassuming purpose. If carefully proportioned and well made, it can be beautiful. A stool is not as formal as a chair but more versatile. It can grow sideways to be a bench or up to be a table. The best way to understand and test a design idea is to make it yourself and because I like working with my hands, over the past couple of years I have made all the prototypes in this collection. 

My purpose in assembling them in BarnesDesigns is to see if there is a way to produce one or more pieces in a quantity that would make them affordable and widely available. 

I hope you like them. 

 John Barnes, Designer