Featured Product > Sedeō Low Stool | Meditation Stool
The collapsible Sedeō stool by Danish design studio Fundament is handcrafted by local artisans and has been created to help with meditation and mindfulness.
Sitting on Sedeō is elevating, it clarifies your mind and aligns your spine. Designed for mindfulness, Sedeō is a stool for meditation and low-seating. The stool's legs slot into the base via an innovative joint system, making stool easy to collapse and bring with you on your wildest adventures.
Sedeō (Latin word for "I settle") portable stool also comes with a carrying case, which is made at the HKI sewing shop. The shoulder strap of the case is made of organic cotton and woven at a small factory in Southern Sweden called Smålands Band.
A successful 2015-2016 Kickstarter project, and inspired by the Scandinavian design tradition, Sedeō is designed with an eye for detail. The final design is the result of over 10 prototypes, testing edges, joints, angles, thicknesses, materials, and finishes.
STORY
A Stool That Helps You Sit
The way we hold ourselves affects who we are. When we sit or stand with good posture, science has shown that our brains work better, our mood improves, and we have more energy. The design builds on research which has shown that by tilting the surface of our seating at a 15-20 degree angle, tension is released in our lower back and our spines are able to follow their natural curve. This makes sitting upright more relaxing and almost effortless.
The idea of good posture can sound exhausting, as if you have to have a stick up your behind. But actually, good posture is meant to be relaxing and energizing, it is just that standard chairs are not designed for it. However, when you sit on an angled surface, it tilts your sitting bone and properly supports your spine, making sitting upright effortless.
Built To Last
Sedeō is made with solid oak, one of the hardest and longest-lasting woods in existence. It is sourced from a forest near Frankfurt Germany, which produces oak known for its high quality and tight grain. The wood is FSC certified, and trees are harvested and replanted following strict social and environmental regulations.
An Ethical Initiative
The artisans who craft the stools are based in a workshop just five blocks from the Fundament studio. They are part of a social enterprise called the Hans Knudsen Institute (HKI). HKI employs people who have previously had difficulty entering the job market and trains them to be furniture makers and tailors. Several have minor disabilities (such as Asperger), and all are excellent craftsmen and women. They also work with recent immigrants and refugees. All receive good wages and six weeks of paid vacation. HKI produces products for a small network of Danish designers, just like Fundament.
The textile used in the carrying cases is handwoven on looms by a network of artisans living in Kerala, India. The material is certified fair-trade and organic, and all weavers own a share in profits earned in the sale of the fabric. The cotton is also planted in rotations, so that soil conditions can be maintained and other food crops can be grown on the same land.
Fundament
Fundament Design is a multi-disciplinary design collaborative based in Copenhagen. One of their newest designs is Sedeō, a portable meditation stool designed for low seating, meditation, and mindfulness. In creating Sedeō, Fundament wanted to include mindfulness in all aspects of the production. As such, Sedeō is handcrafted in Copenhagen from German oak by local artisans with minor mental disabilities. According to the designer Josh Morrison, the tilted seat has a significant impact on mental clarity.
Fundament is the Danish word for foundation. It represents a solid platform for creating meaningful design. At Fundament, designers explore the ethical side of design at all levels, from materials sourcing, to product manufacture, to design impact and aesthetic value.
- Green Design Gallery (GDG)
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