The Stol is an amazingly comfortable, light and quite beautiful beach chair made by a small Swedish company called ErgoLife. Having seen something like this on the beach in California years ago it took me ages to finally locate one. It’s strongly made – solid birch slats and a strong woven hessian frame. It’s surprisingly comfortable when you master the knack of getting into it elegantly and gives just the right amount of support for reading on the beach or anywhere there isn’t a chair or when you can’t be bothered to lug one.

I resumed my search for one after damaging a shoulder burser from laying awkwardly in the park reading… the Stol solves that problem. It’s light and gives the lower back just the right amount of support.

Illustrated here in its ’empty’ mode alongside my 25 year old Stanley Stainless Steel Thermos.

The Stol also doubles as a great baseball mit.