"true beauty is not made ; it is born naturally"

Or so Sori Yanagi said - the creator of this piece of loveliness. The butterfly stool is one of the few pieces of furniture I covet. I have since I was a teenager and I still love it as much now. I still don't have it, but I will and when I do have it, it will stay with me until some much younger relative puts dibs on it when I am ailing. You can buy new ones here, but I'm going to hold out for an original.

I am in fact a huge fan of stools. A little more casual than a chair, and definately a more inviting way of gathering around. They say, put your feet up, lets sit around the coffee table and eat cake, lets let the four year olds sit with the grown-ups....

A little round up of some other favourites.

Silver leather stools from Retrouvius on sale now. Find these and other great stools via the Decorative Collective website. You wont be able to stop looking.

 

Oh - delightful, beautiful, solid and functional. The Walnut stools were first designed by Charles and Ray Eames for the Time Life Building in 1960, but being so perfect, they went on to world wide acclaim and lust-worthiness. Table, seat or the holder of your tea-cup, this stool would stack up in a Georgian townhouse (hopefully mine),modern apartment or 30's semi. Handcrafted and with a huge and happy personality. Again, new ones can be purchased from here.

 At £7.99, it's a very good looking, very useful and well made stool. A friend of mine has a cafe in NZ, where they have held their own for the last five years - that's a lot of bottoms eating cake. They are of course the Frosta from Ikea.

Tolix - French and functional - it's true! Hi or low, many many colours and will fit anywhere. You can buy new ones from Conran, Graham & Green or Baileys (my first choice).

I could go on and if I was pushing the category, I have this thing for Moroccan pouffes. In Marrakech in December, for some reason we didn't buy any. But we will next time - I love to haggle. Ed not so much me-thinks. Child and (small) dog friendly. A little reminder of my 70's childhood avec macrame, and I think a rather long-term friend once owned.

I'll stop now.