nik bentel bites and scratches wood into pieces of furniture

apparently it takes an entire civilization to build a simple wooden stool and nik bentel found this out the hard way. the new york-based designer attempted to build one entirely from scratch, using only part of his body. from felling a tree with his bare hands to carving the wood using any means necessary, the process was a lesson in our reliance on an interconnected society when it comes to production.

this stool is made entirely by chewing, scratching and chipping at found natural materials

nik bentel swapped out machinery and tools for teeth and limbs when he decided to design and create the stool. to begin with, he went into the woods and used his bare hands to knock down trees for lumber. this turned out to be a lot harder then the designer expected, especially when trying to carry the wood back to the wood shop.

the bottom details of the stool in which no screws, glue or shimming were used

bentel then used every possible method to try and carve the wood to a precise measurement which included biting and chewing on the wood to shape it. in the end, the designer had to completely redesign the stool to conform to his body’s abilities.

nik chewed on wood to shape it

this stool project is the first part of a six-part series bentel is launching as an interrogation of design and ‘how we as humans can become human again‘. more information about his plans can be found at the project’s website.

the creation works as an average stool

the everyday stool had to be redesigned in order to be created with just nik’s body

video by nikolas bentel

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: maria erman | designboom