Get Inspired by This Extreme DIY Furniture
What can you do with your own body without using tools? Designer Nicholas Bentel made a four-legged stool. He chopped wood without an ax and saw, planed wood with his teeth, and allowed his carpenter father to use Nikolai’s bare fists like a hammer. Bentel’s All Purpose Nik video series explores the potential of the human body in several projects starting with the above.
By email, Bentel says he’s a DIY advocate and wonders how much the modern consumer relies on buying everything ready-made. But he also enjoys making fun of the do-it-yourself culture: “From time to time you see a do-it-yourself project beating the goal of making a do-it-yourself project in the first place! Where it actually takes a lot more time, energy and materials to create a DIY project than just buying the same item in a store. “
The Bentel stool is definitely more time consuming and it would be easier to carve out one large piece of wood. But the chair is so rough – so beautiful that I have a little suspicion that Bentel made his way with some tool. Of course, tools were used to draw the drawings of the stool, and if you count clothing, shelter, and clean surfaces, tools were also used in the creation.
But, of course, this is not about purism. The Bentel chair was inspired by the Toaster Project , in which artist Thomas Thwaites recreated a commercial electric toaster from scratch. Thwaites traveled the world to collect his materials and quickly realized that to create anything he would have to rely on “cheats” such as modern transportation, internet research, and “not making yourself mine walking shoes.” But, as Thwaites writes, “cheating rather than slavishly following the rules makes the project more interesting and leads to discussion of other issues, besides whether it is possible to make a toaster alone.”
The Bentel chair shows what the human body can do with even the lowest raw material. This suggests that the DIY approach can replicate even complex manufacturing processes. And Bentel hopes that the absurdity of using his teeth, nails and fists to make a stool will help alleviate the absurdity of consumer behavior. He thought about this project after driving two blocks to the grocery store. “When I walked through the door, I stopped and realized how ridiculous it was to not just go to the store and not drive a two-ton car to carry me there.”