Dedar Roping Stool

Stephen Burks is an important figure in the world of contemporary furniture, challenging the design narrative by rethinking core aspects of design. Turning away from Western-dominated perspectives on design, Burks looks to cultures from Senegal, India, Mexico, Australia, Peru, Kenya, Ruanda, and South Africa, and incorporates their aesthetics, forms, surface treatments and patterns, to create unique hybrid works. Through combination and reinvention, Burks believes that it “is his task to reduce this great gap and knock down the boundaries between design, architecture and culture” by creating pieces that bridge Eastern and Western worlds.
This stool is one in a series of three, each in a different size, made in collaboration with textile manufacturer, Dedar Milano. The Roping series embodies the importance of sustainability by reusing pieces of production waste—in this case heavy duty rope and upholstery trimmings—and recombining them in novel ways. Burks recycles these materials to fashion new ways of visualizing furniture. By binding upright segments of the thick rope in a “corsette” made from up to eight different ribbons and patterns of Dedar’s elegant Babà trimmings, Burks explores an inherently flexible industrial material as a supportive structure, while creating a juxtaposition between “supreme coarseness and delicate refinement”. A tough, black, natural rubber coating of the rope at the base provides the piece with extra stability and a visual weight. The aspect of cultural inclusion is also very present in Burks’ combination of different Babà trimmings, which together recall bright hues and geometric patterns commonly seen in African textiles. In creating this stool, Burks identifies the importance of multicultural inclusivity in design, and champions sustainable practices to protect our environment.

Dedar Roping Stool; Designed by Stephen Burks (American, born 1969); Distributed by Dedar SpA; rope, polyurethane coating; assembled sections of woven polyester, rayon, polyacrylonitrile and linen ribbon, brade and fringe assembled and stitched together; plastic (zipper); H x diam.: 60 × 31 cm (23 5/8 × 12 3/16 in.); Gift of Dedar SpA; 2017-28-3