Shoemaker Chair No. 49: A 1936 Workshop Stool, Remade in Oak

Form & Refine's Shoemaker Chair No. 49 is a three-legged stool that has been made in Denmark since 1936, and the number in its name isn't a style code — it's the seat height in centimetres. The stool now sold through Form & Refine is built by the Werner family workshop, carved from a single piece of solid oak, and largely unchanged in principle from the version that left a Danish joinery ninety years ago.

One family, one stool, since 1936

The Shoemaker Chair has been manufactured in Denmark since 1936 and is still produced there today, at a local joinery rather than a factory line. Form & Refine credits the design to Werner — the family workshop that has shaped and refined the stool across generations. Lars Werner, who represents the second generation of the family, has described the approach plainly: "We have tirelessly optimised the chair since the early stages, adjusting minor aspects year after year." That included adding the stool's stabilising T-leg connection and reshaping the seat for comfort and durability — small, cumulative changes rather than a single redesign.

What the number actually means

Form & Refine sells the stool in at least two heights, and the model number is the measurement, not a batch code: No. 49 is 49 cm to the seat, the standard sitting height, while No. 68 is the same stool built to 68 cm, suited to a kitchen island or a high bench. Both share the same construction and the same €798 / €898 pricing tier at source — the only variable is how tall the legs are turned.

One piece of wood, three finishing steps

The seat is carved from a single large piece of solid timber — European oak on the version Objena carries, though Form & Refine also offers beech — which means the grain pattern on every stool is unique to that piece of wood. The legs are turned and fixed with the T-connection Lars Werner's generation added for stability, and each stool is hand-finished through a three-step staining or oiling process rather than a sprayed lacquer. Despite how simple the silhouette looks, Form & Refine notes the piece is technically demanding to build well: getting an anatomically comfortable curve out of a single block of timber, by hand, leaves little room to correct a mistake partway through. Form & Refine also offers the stool in FSC-certified timber, an option worth asking about for anyone weighing sourcing as heavily as finish.

Why Form & Refine carries a stool it didn't design

Form & Refine was founded in Copenhagen in 2018 by Helle Herman Mortensen, Jonas Herman Pedersen and Lasse Lund Lauridsen, on a stated preference for natural materials sourced locally and worked by hand — the same standard the house applies to its own furniture, like the Blueprint Chair. Carrying the Werner family's stool fits that brief without requiring the house to have invented it: a piece already built the slow way, by the people who have refined it for three generations, needs no reinterpretation to belong in the collection.

Objena carries the Shoemaker Chair No. 49 at AUD 1,320, alongside the counter-height No. 68 at AUD 1,490. For the wider case on how Form & Refine chooses what to make and what to keep, read our house chapter on Form & Refine.

Three questions

What is the Form & Refine Shoemaker Chair No. 49? It's a three-legged stool made from solid oak, produced in Denmark since 1936 and now carried in Form & Refine's collection under the Werner family name. The seat is carved from a single piece of wood, so no two chairs share exactly the same grain.

Why is it called "No. 49" and how is it different from the No. 68? The model number is the stool's seat height in centimetres. No. 49 sits at standard chair height; No. 68 is the same stool built to counter height, for use at a kitchen island or high bench.

What is the Shoemaker Chair made from and how is it finished? Solid European oak or beech, with turned legs joined by a stabilising T-connection and a seat hand-carved from one piece of timber. Every stool is hand-finished with a three-step staining or oiling process, and Form & Refine backs it with a five-year warranty.