Lobi (Ghana) Lobi Stool Wood Akan (Ghana) Chair Wood

While carved stools and small chairs function as portable seats and serve as signs of prestige in everyday life, only royalty and other high-status community members have the privilege of utilizing stools during ritual ceremonies. The Lobi produce three-legged stools and characteristically carved animal or human heads within the shape of the stool for decoration and implied symbolism. In West Africa, the word "stool" is defined as synonymous with the phrase: "office of the chief". Further, a chief's personal stool is believed to be the repository of his soul.