A small range of carved wooden stools, hand-made at a workshop in a village outside Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, where this style of relief carving has been a village trade for generations. Each one is turned and assembled from solid Raintree (Samanea saman), a fast-growing tropical hardwood known for its warm grain and steady working properties.
The seats carry hand-carved relief work picked out with painted detail. A sleeping fox curled into the wood, a coiled dragon ringed by flames, a round-eyed owl, an elephant in profile, a peacock displaying its plumage, a curled cat among leaves. The Sun Stool wears a beaming sun face, the Bee Stool a single carved bee, the Mushroom Stool is painted from top to bottom as a toadstool. The Plain Stool offers the same form unadorned for those who prefer wood without imagery.
At roughly 26cm across and 25cm high, they sit comfortably as a low side table, a plant stand, or a footrest. The Raintree finish takes natural beeswax well and improves with age. Each piece is individually carved and painted, so the colour and detail of any two stools will differ. Part of the character of work made in small numbers by hand.
Care: clean with a dry cloth or a natural beeswax polish if you want to bring up the shine. Avoid silicone-based aerosol polishes, which damage the wax finish.
