Inside Out - Fortress Stool

The Fortress Stool is a wooden seat by Wendy Andreu, drawn from the structural logic of medieval buttress architecture.

The base is built from multiple intersecting vertical planks that create open sections and small projecting blocks on each face. This geometry echoes the load-bearing forms of castle walls: weight distributed through structure, not concentrated in mass. A rectangular top with a central cutout sits above the base, reducing visual weight and picking up the rhythm of the openings below. The dark brown-grey finish deepens the wood grain without concealing it.

Made from dark wood, the stool is solid in construction but carries warmth through the material. The intersecting plank system serves both functions at once: it holds the weight and defines the aesthetic. There is no element in the piece that is purely decorative.

Part of Inside Out, the Fortress Stool extends Wendy Andreu's interest in reading architectural and material history as source material for functional furniture. The reference here is not ornamental but structural: medieval builders solved problems with geometry, and the stool applies the same thinking at seat scale.