Gubi was founded in 1967 in Denmark to produce one of the founder’s furniture designs and sell textiles to the retail sector.  I love that their website declares:   “We see ourselves as treasure hunters…design is all about discovering gems and following your instincts. It involves travelling, searching and finding long-lost remnants from the past as well as contemporary, cutting-edge designs from new artists on the horizon.”  That fits well with my ethos too.

Paul Leroy, a Danish-French architect and designer, is responsible for these stools.  The inspiration for the stool frame apparently comes from the letter ‘A’ and the seat dimensions match a sheet of A3 paper.  Seriously, that’s all I could find out about it.

I always cringe a bit when designers get all wanky with their inspiration or descriptions, but I can tolerate it if it makes some sense.  But, these guys haven’t even tried to make sense here and apparently, that is supposed to be enough for us… to know that it looks like an A and that its dimensions are the same as an A3 size paper.  What does that even mean and what is the relevance of that?

Small whinge aside, where did I get them?  These stools are really really expensive, about 800 Swiss francs each.  I actually picked them up from a guy who had bought them for his renovation and then, 12 months later, realised they were too high for the bench he’d built in his kitchen.  He couldn’t return them as he’d had them too long.  I got them in their original packaging, in their original boxes with the invoice (from an eyewateringly expensive Swiss shop) for 100 each.

Did I mention they are really strong, sturdy, beautifully made and comfortable?  That more than makes up for my wasted time in researching for this post.