This French-style boudoir stool’s legs will remind most people of the famous French dancing style known as the can-can. The high kicking dance was hugely popular but not without its moments of scandal. Traditionally the female dancers would wear costumes with long skirts, petticoats, and stockings, sometimes with garters. This bedroom stool also comes with the decorative features associated with French theatre décor including the stage curtains and border frills. A comfortable and plush upholstered cushion provides a welcoming perch on which to apply, or remove, make-up.

The highly unique and delightfully charming Folies Bergère music hall themed stool will make a lovely addition to a bedroom or bathroom with a decidedly classical or bohemian décor theme. It’s humorous and culturally historical which will appeal greatly to people with a fondness and fascination with traditional French culture and history. It’s also a sexy piece of furniture and for women with a naughty streak, the boudoir stool will sit pretty in a related décor and furniture collection. It can also be used as a small table or purely as a decorative element in its own right without being used as a seating item. Alternatively, it can be situated in the living room, dining room, or hallway, where it will definitely attract the attention of visitors to the home.

You can buy it here: Folies Bergere Boudoir Stool.

It is a Design Toscano exclusive.

The sculptural human furniture pieces one can see in the images are by Dzmitry Samal, head of ‘Samal Design’ which is a design studio based in Paris. Samal describes his human furniture creations as being “a mix between the pragmatism and efficiency of the geometrical shapes and sculptural beauty of the human body”. There’s a lot of philosophical points to be made regarding these beautiful and unusual furniture pieces. I’m reminded somewhat unsurprisingly of Franz Kafka’s short story ‘The Metamorphosis’, where a man turns into an insect one morning. However, in the case of these sculptural furniture pieces, the human form is transforming into something altogether more attractive and indeed, functional.

The designer of the sculptural human furniture pieces, Dzmitry Samal, has a rich cultural background and education in design. He’s worked with fellow designers from around the world and travelled widely during his studies and for work. The sculptural human furniture pieces are therefore the creation of a highly imaginative mind which has been cultivated through experience in countries such as Belarus, Italy and France.

I’ve written about living human furniture before but these pictured here are something else. Their metamorphosis from human to furniture, or alternatively from furniture to human, create existential questions about our very nature and how we shape the world around us. Do we become furniture to our surroundings or perhaps we are merely decorative art like a poster on the wall? For designers, the questions about how furniture is designed can be given an extra impetus through the viewing of these sculptural human furniture pieces. Surely a wardrobe for example can be made to mirror the main torso of the human body? A wardrobe does act as a storage area for clothes which hide the main frame of a human being after all.

The sculptural human furniture pieces in many ways echo the shape of the human body when interacting with the furniture piece involved. For example, the closet shows the human body reaching out to take something from within, such as a shirt or coat. A floor lamp is shaped like a human arm reaching for the on and off switch. Low shelving is shaped like the bended knees of someone searching for a book on the lower levels. The furniture becomes us, like a mirror image, a statement of who we are.

You can read a lot more about the talented artist and designer Dzmitry Samal on his website which can be found here: Dzmitry SAMAL Design Website.

For more images and information of this human furniture collection see: Sculptural Human Furniture by Dzmitry Samal.

Note: All images in this post belong to Dzmitry Samal and were reproduced here with his permission.

The images pose many philosophical questions. How often have you wondered whether an item of furniture or other inanimate object can think and feel emotions? Is the bookcase in the alcove bored of standing there day after day after day? I must admit these thoughts have often crossed my mind, naturally followed by a “don’t be a silly ass” moment.

How much are we a part of out home interior decoration? Can we be considered a piece of furniture if we sit in one position long enough and have the cat resting on our lap? These photographs ignite the endless round of existentilist pondering that can drive a man crazy but they are indeed fascinating.

You can see more images from the Mobiliario Humano exhibition on the El Fotomata website.

Hat/Tip: Furniture Fashion