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Legs splayed like a figure caught mid-stride, Ruby sets slack suede slings against high-gloss lacquer in oxblood, greige and espresso, a family of counter stools from Shanghai studio NOVSEP.
NOVSEP calls Ruby the collection it started with, the line that first carried the Shanghai studio's name, and it reads like a thesis statement. A counter stool is a small object with a lot to prove. It has to hold weight at an awkward height, sit close to a kitchen island or a bar, and still earn the floor it takes up. Ruby treats that brief as a chance to sculpt rather than solve.
The starting point is the human silhouette. Each stool splays its lacquered legs like a figure caught mid-stride, the frame widening toward the ground before tapering to rounded feet, with a footrest bridging the front legs at shin height. Above it, the seat and a low, slung back are cut from suede that sags just enough to register as soft, a deliberate slackness set against the rigid gloss around it.
That contrast is the whole argument. The frames wear high-gloss colored lacquer in oxblood, greige and near-black espresso, finished to a depth that mirrors the room back at itself, while the seats are wrapped in nubuck leather. A single leather-wrapped cord sits in a channel down each stile, a modest piece of hardware that reads as a seam or a pull, the one detail keeping the polished surfaces from feeling sealed shut.
NOVSEP traces the mood to contemporary pop culture, the sort of confidence that does not need volume to land. The studio describes the result as bold yet tender, made for people who carry themselves with ease. "It doesn't shout," the studio says of the collection, "but you can't ignore it." Gathered in a cluster, as they are here in oxblood, taupe and black, the stools behave less like seating than a cast of characters waiting to be arranged.
