Piet Hein: Three Scandinavian Modern Bar Stools in Steel and Suede, Denmark 1961

Piet Hein (1905-1996)

A set of three Danish Modern barstools by the poet, philosopher, and mathematician Piet Hein. A base in chromed steel curves outwards to support a comfortable seat in tan suede, which rises above a practical and elegant circular footrest, solving the problem of high stools with grace and mathematical precision while maintaining a small footprint and an airy design. United by a cascade of slim, arched rods, the circular seat, footrest, and base echo each other like a drop of water rippling onto a still pond in slow motion, creating a rhythmic visual pattern.

A polymath and member of the Danish Resistance during WWII —whose coded haikus appeared in newspapers throughout the war— in the postwar years Hein sought to integrate poetry and design to facilitate more harmonious ways of living. He called art “a solution to problems which cannot be formulated clearly before they’ve been solved,” and collaborated with Arne Jacobsen, another rational idealist, to create balanced geometric furniture founded in mathematical principles. Like their space-maximizing Superellipse table for Fritz Hansen —based on a shape elaborated to fix a traffic problem in the roundabout at Sergel’s Square in Stockholm, which simplifies circulation and optimizes space equally seamlessly in the home— these stools cleverly unite function and form.