Stool (seat)

Folding stools can be collapsed into a flat, compact form typically by rotating the seat in parallel with fold-up legs.

[1][3] In the medieval period, seating consisted of benches, stools, and the very rare examples of throne-like chairs as an indication of status.

The simplest stool was like the Windsor chair: a solid plank seat had three legs set into it with round mortice and tenon joints.

These legs were originally formed by shaving down from a simple branch or pole, later examples developed turned shapes.

A simple three-legged turned stool would have its rear leg extended outwards and a crossways pad attached.

[9] Such backstools developed from around 1900, with the advent of modern materials such as bentwood and later the bent steel tube of Marcel Breuer's work at the Bauhaus.

These isotropic materials no longer depended on the shapes of traditional joinery, as developed for earlier stools, and so strong backs could be attached arbitrarily, without relying on particular leg placements for strength.