This stool’s story really begins four-thousand years ago in India with the invention of dhokra lost wax casting. This technique, used for most of its history for the production of folk idols, ornaments and interior items such as lamps, was adopted by the designer at the turn of the millennium to produce a set of matching furniture.

The stool was finally realised in 2008 after an eight-year process. Unsatisfied with the results he could achieve in India, the home of dhokra, it was in Italy that he finally managed to produce the sculptural furniture he desired.

The importance of this stool is that it revisits a traditional technique to produce a very modern and refined piece. The form and decoration relates it back to traditional terracotta horse idols from Bankura in West Bengal. Used as votive offerings, these objects are characterised by their rounded bodies and short legs and are usually decorated with clay coils.

The raised-metal thread patterning is also characteristic of dhokra, and is a result of the casting process. The form of the object was first realised with a clay core, which was covered with beeswax arranged in threads. A second layer of clay was then added on top, with vents so that the wax could escape. Molten metal was poured in, which melted and replaced the wax, and then, once cooled, the clay was broken away leaving the finished bronze form.