Are you a Nomad?

Introducing our new range of Fortuitous Novelties handmade folding furniture, – created for people on the move.

As all of us become more nomadic, our inventive furniture responds to this need to continuously adapt ourselves and our belongings to our changing surroundings.

Space saving and portability is the key to this lightweight and transportable furniture that provides a comfortable place to sit and rest, work and play, but then usefully folds flat for storage, – growing and shrinking on demand.

Fort Novs Low Stool Pair

Fort Novs Low Stool

Fort Novs Low Stool

Fort Novs Standard Folded Frame

Fort Novs Roundel Inlay

Fort Novs Standard Stool

Fort Novs Standard Stool

Whilst unashamedly retro, eclectic, funky and timeless; the content and purpose of this furniture is just as important as style. Made by hand in our Leicestershire workshop, these pieces of good design follow in a noble craft tradition where the appearance is utterly pragmatic. The direct and honest structures and linkages give a clear picture of how they are assembled and function. Nothing is hidden, nothing is added or removed; – everything is gained.

These remarkably simple pieces whether used in or out of doors, neatly fulfil the need for elegant solutions that enhance life on the move.

Constructed in Russian Birch Plywood in Clear Wax Finish. Available in Sea Jade/Blaze Red Formica.

NEW. Now available in Sunny Yellow /Arctic White Formica.

Fortuitous Novelties Folding Stools and Tables ©2015

Available now are two versions of the Fortuitous Novelties Stool.

For enquiries please contact brimstones.treacle@gmail.com.

Look out for a developing range of Fortuitous Novelties furniture coming very soon…

Appealing Camping

Whatever happened to camping furniture with an appealing design? This is the question I was asking myself when I was looking at the plethora of industrial aluminium furniture that seems to be the current mainstay of many camping stores. For our bell tent adventures we need furniture that is comfortable, functional, and durable but just as importantly for us it must be elegant and in sympathy with the surroundings of the great outdoors.

Collecting Collapsibles

Sherry Turkle, editor of Evocative Objects,  is quoted as saying ‘We think with the objects we love, we love the objects we think with’ revealing the power that objects hold to become emotional and intellectual companions, that anchor memory and provoke new ideas.

Collecting objects offers us the opportunity for liberation in the ways that we think about them and enables us to form our own narrative around their use and effect. The act of collecting itself allows us to see where objects end up in reality as opposed to the messages that we consume about them through our capitalist culture and it allows us to reveal what objects actually mean to people.

The bug of collecting becomes infectious and intriguing, with each object offering it’s own peculiar insight in aspects of contemporary culture. Popular among designers is the notion of collecting a singular typology of objects, such as Jasper Morrison and his anthropological study of Spoons. Collecting objects becomes a passion that is both reassuring and delightful and allowing narratives about them to be constructed through viewing, valuing and selecting. A particular interest of ours lies in collecting ‘collapsible’ objects, building a snapshot of the many ways that transforming objects can be determined. Experiencing this broad spectrum of everyday things within the context of the classification of ‘collapsibility’ gives a clear means to understand this sphere of objects and how they work, how they make us think and behave, giving certain perspective on how we interact with the world and how we understand the world.

You are a Nomad

We know ‘change’ is a paradox, as it is the one thing of which we can be truly certain. As change happens everyday in all our surroundings we endure by continuously adapting ourselves, and our belongings to our situation. In nature species rely on dynamic modification in form and size in order to reproduce, feed or protect themselves. The capacity to adapt is essential to continued survival. And so it is in our ‘man made’ artificial world. As practical experience shows us, many organisations that fail to adjust to ever changing business environments tend to disappear.

Back in 1973, Victor Papanek and James Henessey had already prophesised the necessity for greater movement of people, suggesting that through our changing lifestyles we are all becoming nomadic. At Brimstones and Treacle we delight in their book ‘Nomadic Furniture’ in which they have attempted to fill a void by designing furniture that can be built yourself, bought or adapted by being easily constructed, but which also folds, stacks, inflates or knocks down, or else is disposable whilst being ecologically responsible.