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The Rise of the Tamar Stool
Jan
Our furniture is the realisation of the dreams in our heads. I composed a brief for a new stool in 2010. As a Churchill Fellow in chair design, my starting point is always to imagine a clear vignette; who will sit on the chair, when, for what purpose, in what setting and for how long? By clearly visualizing the function, I can create the form. How it “looks” is guided by how it augments the lived experience.
I already had our iconic, multi-award-winning Waterfall stools in production, so why another stool design? The Waterfall was a response to the typical Australian home with a young family. A backless perching stool is perfect for a high-traffic, low formality area, with everyone from the kids through to grandma sitting for either a minute or an hour. But I could see an argument for a more intimate stool in settings that were less busy and more thoughtful.
With the Tamar, I envisioned an adult sharing a meal and perhaps a glass of wine with a spouse or close friends. It had to be sophisticated but not pretentious, a place to reflect on the day and shed some of life’s turbulence. It had to be distinctly Australian, but with international levels of craftsmanship. It needed to suit a home with high design standards. The Tamar stool was conceived.
I always envisioned a domestic setting for the Tamar and for more than a decade, it was homeowners investing in them. Then Phil Squance of Analog Mosman started composing the fit out of his new Sydney bar. Phil was seeking a compelling bar stool that was Australian designed, crafted and made from Australian timber. He wanted his patrons to sit, relax, make new friends, listen to an LP on vinyl, eat fine food and drink something special. After a long and fruitless search, he finally learned of the Tamar stool and drove the three hours from Sydney. He sat in a Tamar, broke into a grin and immediately ordered 22 in Tasmanian blackwood for the Analog Mosman.
“I spent months looking for the right stool. The interior designers and furniture retailers I consulted kept offering me voiceless industrial design, not craft design. I love Japanese-Australian fusion food, and I was after a fusion stool; it had to be high design, high craftsmanship, high authenticity and local, local, local.” – Phil Squance, 2024.
The Analog Mosman, corner of Awaba and the Esplanade, featuring our Tamar stools, Sabine chairs, custom 8 meter bar and small tables in blackwood.
If you let us know the number of Tamar stools you’re considering, and whence to ship them, we’ll review our stock, calculate the shipping, and let you know your options. If we have what you’re after, we’ll invoice you and ship them. If we don’t possess your needs in stock, we’ll charge you a 40% deposit to join one of our production runs. We make three runs of Tamar stools a year. When we finish your run, we’ll supply a final invoice and arrange shipping. We have custom-made protective boxes to ensure safe arrival.
A typical run of blackwood Tamar stools awating their seats in the Dunstone Design workshop.
The seats fitted to a run of Tamar stools in jarrah, waiting for their final sanding and shaping at the Dunstone Design workshop.
