This striking ANC stool…

…was CNC-milled from an aluminum slab. Once the parts are folded, the diamond-shaped key is bolted into place, holding it all together.

It was designed by Swiss design consultancy Panter & Tourron. The motivation behind the piece is somewhat paradoxical:

"ANC...reflects the role of the designer and the machine in times of global automation. The name pays homage to the Arts and Crafts movement from the 19th century. Strongly anti-industrial, the movement was promoting a return to the traditional and medieval man-made arts and crafts forms.

"The [stool] celebrates the inner aesthetic and beauty of the trace of the machine. Envisioned primarily out of functionality rather than decoration, the objects are produced through heavy CNC milling on flat aluminum boards and presented here as machine-made sculptures."

The Arts & Crafts movement was anti-industrial, arguing that machine-made goods were ugly and didn't adhere to established design principles. Though Panter & Tourron are wielding an industrially-produced CNC mill here, I suppose their point is that this is the chisel and mallet of our day, and that they have used it to create something soulful.

Appropriately, this is not a production piece; it was created for the Geneva-based design gallery NOV, whose mission is to highlight emerging Swiss designers.