Let me start this post off by saying – I want one, really badly. There’s really nothing more cozy than a warm, chunky sweater, so I ask: what could possibly be better than sitting on an over-sized tuft of woolly goodness? These Stools have the capacity to make your shoulders jealous of your rear end, and why not give your overworked bottom a break?

Stool. Designed by Claire-Anne O’Brien.

I seem to remember the act of knitting as having a less than cool connotation, but lately it seems everyone and their mother is knitting up a storm. On the subway, out to a solo dinner, and on the airplane, people are turning to knitting and reinventing the stereotype of homemade knits. Claire-Anne O’Brien is a graduate of the Royal College of Art and now designs inventive knit creations out of London. Her knit Stools are an over-sized study of the unseen geometries of knitting, exposing them for their organic yet regimented rhythms. O’Brien’s choice of color and scale transforms yarn into modern woolen sculptures that I can easily envision in the most stylish living room.

In addition to soul warming goodness for the consumer, O’Brien did an internship with Unesco in 2009, taking her knitting to Ladakh in the Himalayas. Her group worked with local women to develop a range of knitted prototypes which included hand knitted figurines of local animals, as well as hand warmers and socks using traditional patterns and natural yarns. The women now use their skills to knit and sell products along tourist trekking routes in the region.

via Contemporist