A brilliant and unique stool with backrest attributed to Richard La Trobe-Bateman, having a heavily worn seat in solid pine, supported by a very clever series of upright sections and stretchers in the same timber, producing a somewhat architectural yet sculptural construction. Each component has been shaped by hand and not a single screw in sight, instead held together with split tenons and other hidden joints, despite this being a prototype.
Overall in fabulous structural condition, but naturally displaying more wear than its successor, the seat seemingly having been carved and altered again and again. This piece does remain perfectly usable and very attractive by design. I'd like to imagine this was specially commissioned by an artist or craftsperson requiring a studio stool that only Richard La Trobe-Bateman could dream up. The unique brown oak final outcome of this same design is also available, being slightly shorter than this prototype after some revisions. Both sourced a mere 30 minutes drive from the La Trobe-Bateman's Somerset workshop.
Richard La Trobe-Bateman, born 1938, has an international reputation for designing and building structures, from chairs and tables to bridges and structures, always favouring native English timbers, as well as steel and wire rope. As these deceptively complex stools showcase, he has a very unique gift for conveying tension, compression and other physical stresses in the form of often geometric constructions that tend to fly in the face of architectural convention where furniture design is concerned.
