Pik is a compact, stackable stool designed as an exploration in material efficiency and distributed manufacturing. Its softly tapered, triangular form referencing the geometry of a guitar pick, allows two complete stools to be CNC-cut from a single standard sheet of plywood, with minimal material waste. Conceived during a fast-paced, three-day design sprint, Pik investigates how constraints can lead to clarity in both form and function.
3 Day Design Sprint
Pik is a compact, stackable stool designed as an exploration in material efficiency and distributed manufacturing. Its softly tapered, triangular form referencing the geometry of a guitar pick, allows two complete stools to be CNC-cut from a single standard sheet of plywood, with minimal material waste. Conceived during a fast-paced, three-day design sprint, Pik investigates how constraints can lead to clarity in both form and function.
3 Day Design Sprint
PIK STOOL_FLAT PACK FURNITURE
The stool’s components are precisely nested in a flat layout, optimised for digital fabrication. This enables on-demand production using widely accessible tools and materials, supporting decentralised manufacturing models that prioritise local resources and reduce the environmental impact of global logistics.
While originally designed for local fabrication rather than mass distribution, Pik’s disassembled format naturally lends itself to compact packaging. All parts fit into a flat box slim enough to pass through a standard UK letterbox—offering a logistical advantage that many products overlook. In conventional shipping, bulky, pre-assembled goods often occupy excessive volume, with packaging composed largely of empty space and protective filler. Pik challenges this inefficiency by demonstrating how design for disassembly and flat-packing can significantly reduce shipping volume, allowing more units to be transported per route, with fewer resources consumed.
Rather than positioning itself as a reinvention of the stool, Pik is a considered reflection on how design can engage with systems—material supply, production methods, packaging, and distribution—with subtlety and intention. It offers a quiet proposal for a more resourceful and responsive way of designing everyday objects.
