Don't call them layers. What we found this week were stacks—perfectly conceived piles of objects as inventive as they are inviting.

To compose his Stack chair's casually tossed cushions, the Milan-based designer Stefan Krivokapic varied their thickness, color and alignment. Designed for the Italian furniture purveyor Contempo, the cushy arrangement rests atop a metal and wood frame, which makes the seat look at once stable and slippery. It's a tower of mattresses worthy of a princess—with or without the pea.

Despite their cartoon appeal, these Bent Wood Tables were made the traditional way—at least in part. Each table is fashioned from a series of colored-glass discs designed by Sebastian Wrong, and wrapped in strips of ash that have been steamed and pressed by a craftsman in Northern Italy. The hand-printed, wood-block design is by the London-based artist Richard Woods. The discs, which are stacked to reach coffee-cup height, are part of a limited edition run for Galerie VIVID in Rotterdam.

After two droll designs not made for play, the kid-friendly Toronto stool provides a welcome invitation to stack and re-stack. The Barcelona-based design firm In-Tenta used cork and foam to form their towers, which are produced by the online store Made Design. The 11-inch-diameter disks are cinched together by a red rope knotted at the underside of the bottom piece. New layers are easily added, so that as children grow the piles of discs can, too.