The Stoolery
My name is Peter Lionsbridge. I’m a furniture designer and fine woodworker based in Highgate, Ontario, where I operate The Stoolery, a one-person woodworking studio dedicated entirely to the wooden stool.
I’ve chosen to focus on one of furniture’s simplest forms because the more I work with it, the more possibilities I find.
Why Stools?
A stool has very little to hide behind. The angle of a leg, the curve of a seat, the thickness of an edge or the character of the wood can change the entire piece. Its simplicity makes every decision matter.
But there’s also a more personal reason behind my work.
When my grandparents passed away, they left behind beautiful furniture, much of it too large for anyone in the family to keep. What remained were smaller pieces, including the stools and benches. They carried years of use, familiar marks and memories of the people who had lived with them.
That stayed with me. I want to make furniture that people can use and enjoy every day, but also feel connected to and want to keep.
The Work
The Stoolery allows me to explore a single furniture form in many different ways.
My Classic Line offers a refined, repeatable design built around simplicity and function. Artisan Originals give me greater freedom to explore the individual character of the wood, experimenting with proportion, shaping, turning, carving and visible joinery.
I also create Statement Series, where individual stools are connected through shared materials, forms or ideas, while Bespoke Commissions offer opportunities to develop pieces around a client’s particular needs.
Across all of these approaches, my interest is in creating furniture that is both useful and visually engaging, with a character of its own.
The Process
Woodworking has been part of my life since childhood. I studied woodworking at Conestoga College and went on to work in custom furniture and architectural woodworking before establishing The Stoolery in 2025.
Today, I design and make each stool myself in my rural Ontario workshop, working primarily with solid domestic hardwoods, including locally sourced material whenever possible.
My process combines modern woodworking machinery with traditional hand tools, turning and shaping. I often design and build my own jigs and fixtures to explore new forms while maintaining the accuracy and strength each piece requires.
The wood itself plays an important role. Its grain, figure, natural colour and structural qualities influence the direction of a design, particularly in my one-of-a-kind work.
Looking Forward
The Stoolery is an opportunity to bring together my experience in woodworking and my growing interest in furniture design. By concentrating on the stool, I can continue refining familiar construction methods while exploring new proportions, forms and ways of working with wood.
My aim is simple: to make thoughtfully designed furniture that earns its place in someone’s home and has the potential to remain there for years to come.
Before there was a chair, there was a stool.
