A Toronto man has just invented a piece of furniture that can be assembled in seconds without the use of tools, meaning it might just make IKEA obsolete.

The Noro stool can be assembled in about 20 seconds without nails or fasteners, and has built-in storage that displays your favourite possessions rather than hiding them away. The name Noro comes from the Igbo word for "stay."

Toronto design engineer Chuma Asuzu got the idea for the stool a few years back when he was moving around frequently, first coming up with the Noro concept in March 2019 after he had gotten a record player as a gift.

The Noro stool functions as seating or can be used for display. Photo courtesy of Chuma Asuzu.

"I wanted to make a stool to hold the record player as well as records, and one that I could set up as well as disassemble with ease," Asuzu tells blogTO.

"Most pieces of furniture require you to read instructions and have nails and tools to set it up which is tough if you move a lot. That's when I got the idea. I wanted to design something easy to use and elegant."

It consists of four parts made out of Baltic birch plywood that come together with three actions by sliding the pieces together.

He designed the stool to be multi-purpose, saying his partner uses it as a bedside table for her books, and that it is also strong enough for people to sit on as supplemental seating in small spaces. Despite this, it's lightweight enough to be easily picked up and moved around.

"The stool got accepted into the Toronto Design Festival known as DesignTO and is on display at Saving Grace restaurant in the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood as part of the festival," says Asuzu. "People have been quite impressed with the flexibility of the stool and that it's made here in Ontario."

The stool also makes for a multi-functional bedside table. Photo courtesy of Chuma Asuzu.

He's made a few for friends so far, but the general public won't be able to buy it until Asuzu pulls off his Kickstarter campaign for the stool. The latter will fundraise the money needed for the production at a factory he works with in the GTA.

If the campaign is successful, everyone who backs it will receive the stool once production is done, though there will only be a limited quantity of 100 stools made.

"Over the years, I've designed a few pieces of furniture for personal use like a bag stand for my partner that I just finished. Commercially, I also designed a math toy for kids to practice multiplication and sold it to a few parents and tutors. I worked as a design engineer for a few years so it's been great to use those skills towards building products that people love," says Asuzu.

"After the Kickstarter campaign, I hope to get Noro into a few stores in the Toronto area. And I'm working on a new product: an interval timer that helps with learning new habits."