sign stool by trent jansen from australia

The Sign Stool is constructed from used road signs (essentially a large sheet of reused aluminium) that come complete with all the characteristics of their previous use, including colourful vinyl labels, and the odd evidence of their life by the roadside. This not only provides character but gives these objects a context, and a preconceived notion of the purpose of this material in the eye of the public. These expectations are confronted when such an industrial object as a used road sign is exhibited in the domestic space as a piece of furniture, offering an unavoidable sense of irony.

The form of this piece was very much determined by its intended function, one which has been an ingrained part of me since very early childhood, - a desire to build. An early introduction to "Lego" has fostered an interest in building in the domestic space, inspiring a technical mind, but also giving an appreciation for toys and play at any age. With the Sign Stool I aimed to create a piece that could be fun, and an object for adults to play with. Used as a building block in the home, the Sign Stool acts modularly, nesting in a horizontal direction, while stacking vertically and allowing the user to create with their furniture. This function does not only offer an opportunity to play, but also provides a more practical function, stacking and nesting to provide a gridded wall of these modules, and acting as a storage system.

The Sign Stool is the embodiment of what I believe to be the future of design. It has taken no tole on the environment, while combining an interesting and purposeful concept with an innovative use of materials, driving a very humanistic brand of design which is meant to be interacted with, both intellectually in its ironic sense of context and physically in its build able form.