Stool, nylon, 'One Shot Stool' by Patrick Jouin, .MGX by Materialize, Belgium, 2006

This stool is made entirely from nylon. It was built as one piece, with jointed plastic parts that allow it to fold. The stool's main structure consists of twelve curved struts. Each of these struts is jointed three-quarters of the way up its length, these joints open outwards. Down the centre of the stool runs a hollow, tube-like support. At its top edge, this support finishes in a flat, circular frame. A handle runs across the stool's hollow centre, sitting inside this frame.

The stool is opened by pushing down on it. This causes the external struts to twist - their joints then open and lock at a 90 degree angle. Once the stool is open, the section of the strut from top to joint becomes the seat. The stool is closed by pulling on the handle, releasing the joints and twisting the struts back into their closed position.

The stool was built in one piece, using a 3D 'printing' technique known as laser sintering. In laser sintering a layer of powdered nylon is heated to near melting point, and lasers then used to map a design onto it. Those areas of powder that the lasers touch first melt, and then solidify. Once the first layer of powder has been lasered, another is added and bonded onto the first.

Using this process, the stool was gradually built up layer by layer. Once the whole object had been built, excess (unsintered) powder was removed. The sintering process leaves the nylon with a grainy, matt quality.

The 'One Shot' stool was designed by the Paris-based designer Patrick Jouin in 2006. It was manufactured in Leuven by the company .MGX by Materialise. The stool won the Good Design Award in 2008.

This stool is very innovative in its use of digital manufacturing techniques. Although the stool has moving parts, and can be folded, the use of laser sintering techniques meant that it was able to be manufactured as a single piece. As such, the stool's design represents a milestone in the history of 'digital' furniture design.

The One-Shot stool was manufactured using the 3D 'printing' technique known as laser sintering. In the sintering process, a bed of nylon powder is heated to near melting point. The design for the stool is then traced onto the powder using a computer-controlled laser. Each area that the laser touches first melts, then solidifies. The stool is built up layer by layer, with each layer fusing onto the next. The stool's design marks an important milestone in the history of digital manufacturing. Although the stool folds, and has moveable parts, laser sintering technology allowed it to be printed in one single piece.

W.34-2011