Claesson Koivisto Rune presents custom-made wood furniture collection for Tokyo Craft Room during DesignArt Tokyo 2019
The HAND wooden furniture collection is the result of a unique collaboration between Swedish architect and designers Claesson Koivisto Rune, and expert Japanese carpenter Yuji Takahashi.
The collection will be presented for the first time at a launch event in the Tokyo Craft Room, at Hamacho Hotel, during this year’s DesignArt Tokyo.
Ola Rune, of Claesson Koivisto Rune Architects, together with expert carpenter Yuji Takahashi, during a visit to the woodcraft studio SASIMONOKAGU-TAKAHASHI, based in Hiroshima, Japan
“During our first meeting, Takahashi-san started showing me some samples on his iPad. When we looked at the detailing I thought to myself, ‘This is unreal. You can’t do this, it’s impossible to make a box or tray in this manner,’” Rune recalls with a smile.
According to Rune, “We wanted to do something that we hadn’t done before and see how much we could challenge Takahashi-san. When the audience see this product, we want them to understand how well it has been made.”
Tokyo Craft Room was initiated by Creative Director Teruhiro Yanagihara in order to use Hamacho Hotel as a platform for skilled Japanese artisans, as well as both national and international designers to collaborate and innovate using their various crafts. Through their creations, a stay-in space filled with handicrafts from all over Japan offers a rich experience for guests.
At the start of the project, insights into the scale of the space and its functional requirements were gained by spending a night at Tokyo Craft Room. These observations laid the foundations for early discussions with Takahashi about the kind of furniture they could create together. Rune and his team’s conversations with Takahashi not only revealed the potential of his joinery skills, but a sheer enthusiasm for his craft.
The final design of the HAND furniture collection pushed Takahashi and his team further technically as the cross-sections of each of the component parts are made in such a way so that they become progressively thinner towards their outer edges, resulting in an edge thickness of only a few millimetres.
This thinning of parts begins at the very centre of each part, meaning that all the furniture pieces lack any true, flat surfaces. All the surfaces are slightly convex. Even the tabletop’s upper surface has a very subtle camber, a quality not easily observed but more obviously felt through touch.
Furthermore, these convex surfaces meet along the outer edge of each component which in itself forms perimeter shape from a series of curves, devoid of straight lines.The sum of these choices presents a considerable challenge for hand tool production. However, the completed collection of furniture retains a particular tactility that is often lost in larger series production. The impact of the HAND pieces deepens upon closer inspection of the exceptional detailing courtesy of Yuji Takahashi and his team.
“When I think about Japanese craftsmanship, one striking example is the shrine at Ise Jingu. Every twenty years they make a replica to replace the existing shrine complex, and by using old techniques they keep tradition alive.”
Ola Rune, at studio SASIMONOKAGU-TAKAHASHI, with Yuji Takahashi in the background.
“Research is something that’s always present in our work,” explains Rune. “We’ve been working together for 25 years, but we’re still three very curious individuals who are constantly looking at what’s happening and why. We want to know why some people do the same thing differently.”
The ‘Hand’ stool, in solid Chestnut wood, nearing completion in the hands of Yuji Takahashi.
The idea of doing things differently and exploring the potential of old techniques resonates strongly with Yuji Takahashi, craftsman and founder of Sasimono-kagu Takahashi. At the heart of his work are traditional joinery techniques, which allow for the creation of robust products that can be repaired throughout their lifetime. Pairing these techniques with modern tools, materials and technology, he designs and manufactures furniture with enduring quality.
All images courtesy of Yuji Takahashi / SASIMONOKAGU-TAKAHASHI.
LAUNCH EVENT
HAND – a collection of furniture
design: Claesson Koivisto Rune
woodwork: Sasimonukagu Takahashi
Launch Event: October 16, 14:00 – 20:00
Gallery talk: October 16, 15:00 & 17:00
Exhibition: October 17 – 20
Address: Tokyo Craft Room, Hamacho Hotel
2F 3-20-2 Nihonbashi Hamacho, Chuo-ku, 103-0007 Tokyo, Japan
SASIMONOKAGU-TAKAHASHI is a furniture atelier founded in Kumano, Hiroshima in 2010 by joiner Yuji Takahashi. The atelier is capable of managing the whole process of making furniture by themselves from design to sales. At present, they mainly craft furniture which is privately ordered through Takahashi.
www.sasimonokagu-takahashi.com
CLAESSON KOIVISTO RUNE is a Swedish architectural partnership, founded in Stockholm in 1995, by Mårten Claesson, Eero Koivisto and Ola Rune. Begun as an architectural firm, it has since become an internationally-acclaimed, multi-disciplinary office with an equal emphasis on both architecture and design.
