Down at the hearth or out in the milking shed, a stool like this was always within reach, low to the ground and light enough to move with a foot. Found in France and made in the 20th century, it has a round seat carved with a spiral at its center, set on three legs turned in stacked beads and splayed for balance. Three legs were the country woodworker’s trick for a floor that was never flat, sitting steady where a fourth would only rock, and the bead-turned legs are the one bit of decoration the maker allowed himself. Sylvie sets it by the fireplace with a cup of coffee cooling on the seat, close enough to reach from the armchair through a long winter afternoon.
