The 'Freiburg Stool'

Johannes Wittich has been designing, planning and building solid wood furniture in his own joinery in Freiburg, Germany, since 1998. He is dedicated to the construction of ergonomic furniture and thoughtful design. His stool, called the 'Freiburg Stool', utilises the power of super magnets. This ergonomic stool is very adaptable thanks to its design and the use of magnets.

The ergonomic seat 'Freiburg stool' lets you "create" three different sitting options. The secret lies in the removable magnetic block. Attaching it to a chosen stool leg will alter the way you sit on the wooden stool.

The magnetic block makes all the difference

The carpenter embedded a neodymium rod magnet type S-08-30-N into the removable magnetic block in such a way that a piece of the magnet still protrudes from the wood. As a design feature, this magnetic block is made of a different wood than the rest of the stool. In the blind holes on the underside of the four feet, 8,2 mm holes were drilled and a screw was inserted into the far end to act as a counterpart for the magnet. (This means that there is a hole with an embedded screw in each leg of the stool). Due to the ferromagnetic properties of the screw, it attracts the rod magnet when it is inserted and holds it firmly in place. It is important to have a little room between the screw and the neodymium magnet so that the latter doesn’t crack or break.

If you want to change the seating position, you can simply pull out the magnetic block and attach it to another stool leg. When the magnetic block is not needed, you can easily stow it away underneath the seat where a metal disc has been attached for this purpose.

The idea behind the ergonomic stool

If you spend a lot of time sitting, any seated position will become uncomfortable over time. The ergonomic stool allows you to vary the sitting position. Thanks to the removable magnetic block, the way you sit on the wooden stool changes. By adjusting the location of the block on this ergonomic stool, you will adopt a different sitting position:

• Leaving the front leg of the stool short allows you to tilt the now dynamic stool back. This means you automatically have to balance on the stool and thus keep moving.
• If you attach the magnetic block to the rear leg of the stool, the seat will be slightly slanted. This automatically straightens your back and lets you sit upright.
• Attaching the magnetic block to one of the side legs of the stool will provide you with a sturdy sitting position.

You can find details about this ergonomic stool with magnetic block at freiburger-hocker.de (in German).

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