We’ve heard of Slow Food, Slow Towns, Slow Design. Now we have an example of slow furniture. This stool epitomizes the Slow concept of taking time to create, enjoying the process, using natural ingredients, or materials in this case, and working with nature not against it. This stool is made from three sycamore saplings trained and grafted together around a plywood jig to form the tripod base of the seat. It takes 5 years to grow! Christopher Cattle’s website Grown-Furniture clearly explains the process and you can email him to get the pattern for the jig. He says ‘Growing furniture isn't going to save the planet, but it can be used to demonstrate that it is possible to create genuinely useful things without adding to the pollution that industry inevitably seems to produce. Trees are self-generating, and grown wooden products need only the energy that the sun gives everywhere. It's free and it's non-polluting. Training and grafting trees as they grow are established traditional crafts, and wood is durable but it's also biodegradable, so it doesn't have to end up in a hole in the ground. I call this Grownup furniture as it's the result of mature thinking.’ :: Grown Furniture

Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:

• From Community Supported Agriculture to a Community Supported Kitchen
• Elegant Recycled Restaurant Made from Scrap by Nancy Robbins Design Studio
• Will the Next New Deal be Transit-Based? Three Plans to Rescue the Economy and the Earth with Public Transportation
• Vegan Kosher Halal Alert: Fabric Softeners Are Made From Rendered Animal Fat

Lemur Toy Made With Soy Silk

Report: U.S. Power Grid Can Fuel 180 Million Electric Cars