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Designer: Naoto Fukasawa
Photography: Yoneo Kawabe

 

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 "What you get is something akin to the firmness, the relative resilience, of Sanuki udon”.
It was these words uttered by Naoto Fukasawa in conversation that inspired me. He explained in very
easy terms that it wasn’t 100% adherence to the desires of the designer that made for truly good products,
but the incorporation of knowledge and ideas based on the experiences of technical experts. With Naoto
Fukasawa, we enter into the challenge of creating a “decorative product standard”, a “chair that
transcends the Y chair”.
Takeshi Yamanaka
President
Maruni Wood Industry Inc.
 

 

I had always wanted to design a good wooden chair. I believed what would be good was one whose
essence seeped into our daily lives as it was used over time. With Northern European plain wood, which
until now has been the world standard for wooden chairs, for example, what is present is the warmth that
one gets from handcrafted objects, rather than “design”. There is a similar kind of artistic crafted element
to Japanese wooden products; with uncoated objects made of Japanese cypress in particular, there is a
subtle, exalted feeling of freshness, one that disallows any kind of impurity. What was aimed at with this
chair and table was an image that was clean and subtle, while still having a human warmth to it.
Designing a wooden chair is not easy. I believe that it is not just about the shape of the chair; it’s
something that is realized with a high degree of craftsmanship and a great deal of experience with respect
to structural ingenuity, where the quality of the wood is assessed and the robustness of the structure is
balanced with lightness in terms of its weight, while further ensuring that it is comfortable to sit on.
My encounter with Maruni translated this belief into reality. Since its beginning in 1928 in Hiroshima,
Maruni, with its slogan of “industrializing craftwork”, has succeeded in its endeavors to utilize the kind
of complicated techniques that had only been possible with handcrafted products with industrial products,
turning out a great deal of high quality wooden furniture.
For its 2008 collection, Maruni is announcing the HIROSHIMA series of dining chairs and tables, which
employs unpainted beech and oak with natural wooden finishes, and the Traditional series, which refines
the Mediterranean series and the Versailles series that became European home furnishing best sellers in
the 1980s.
Naoto Fukasawa

 

HIROSHIMA
Chairs and tables with simple, subtle structures that highlight the natural wood used, and which have no
restrictions placed on them regarding places in which they are used – it is envisaged that they be used
everywhere. One may choose either beech or oak. The gentle curve from the back along the arm is very
appealing. The roomy seat can be used not only as a dining chair, but as a lounge chair too. The tapering
of the sides of the arms, the seat of the chair and the table accentuate the beauty of the light shining on
their surfaces.

  

 

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 Maruni
Pioneering the industrial application of craft skills following establishment of the company in
1928。Achieving a status as Japan’s leading brand in the field of classic furniture。The
“nextmaruni” project as a manifestation of the company’s aspiration to return to its original point
of departure

 

 

Maruni Collection: Setting New Standards for the Global Market

 

The “Hiroshima” series was released in 2008 with the aims of looking into what exactly Maruni
Wood Industry should be creating and of trying to throw light on the starting point for the
company’s activities. This new venture was entered into in partnership with the internationally
renowned Japanese product designer Naoto Fukasawa. Our aim was to create furniture that
combines robustness with designs that will remain fresh and vital in a hundred years’ time.

 

The items released every year on the international market by Maruni Wood Industry are known
as the “Maruni Collection”. Naoto Fukasawa has been playing the key role in creating these
designs, and it was his efforts that have resulted in the birth of the “Hiroshima” series. Fukasawa
has made the following comment about this: “Chairs that have hitherto come to be regarded as
standard internationally have been imbued with that distinctive sense of warmth of the hand-
made that characterizes crafts products rather than emphasizing design qualities. What this
collection is aiming at is the realization of a highly detailed and clean image, while at the same
retaining this sense of human warmth.”

 

In order to create new standards of the highest quality, there is a need for technology rooted in a
thorough knowledge of wood and furniture production in connection with form, seating comfort,
the combination of robust structure and lightness for ease of handling, and delicate finishing that
makes the most of the superior qualities of wood.

 

“It isn’t a question of ensuring that every whim of the designer is able to achieve realization. A
perfectly finished product comes into being only when it incorporates knowledge and ideas rooted
in the experience of engineers.”

 

This is the approach that we all share and which we apply to the joint creation of our products.
The “Hiroshima” series in particular reflects the Japanese aesthetic as applied to wood and the
skills that make it possible for this aesthetic to be brought to life in everyday contexts. Products in
this series therefore have a natural wood finish with almost no paint or varnish.

 

The “Hiroshima” series presented at the Milan Salone in 2009 attracted a great deal of attention
and is now supplied to 20 countries around the world, including the United Kingdom, Germany,
France, Canada, the United States, and so on. These are products that fuse an international
design sense with Japan’s unique aesthetic as applied to wood and intricate manufacturing skills.
 

They may thus be thought of as items of furniture projected by Japan into the world and created
in the manner unique to Maruni Wood Industry and, as such, they represent a crystallization of
beauty born out of craft skills.

 

Since 2010, Maruni Wood Industry has worked with Naoto Fukasawa as art director to take our
first steps toward establishing the Maruni Collection throughout the world as a brand of
distinctively Japanese furniture. Beginning in 2011, we are joined by designer Jasper Morrison as
we strive to elevate the Maruni Collection to even higher recognition.

Maruni Wood Industry will continue to create beautiful Japanese furniture that strikes a chord
amongst people all over the world. 

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 “您得到是一個硬度和韌度類似于贊岐烏冬面的東西”
在談話中，深澤直人的這句話啟發(fā)了我，他解釋這些真正的好作品時非常輕松，但知識和思想的積累卻是真正的行家。我們制定了“產(chǎn)品標(biāo)準(zhǔn)”，“超越Y(jié)椅子的椅子。”
武山總裁
Maruni木業(yè)有限公司
我想設(shè)計一把好的椅子，能隨著時間的推移滲透進(jìn)我們的生活。北歐的木材成為世界木椅的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，比如，手工制作的具溫暖感的對象是好過“設(shè)計”的。日本的木材柏木具有同樣的品質(zhì)，同時這種木材還非常高貴，清新，不帶雜質(zhì)。期望桌椅干凈，微妙，具備人性的溫暖。設(shè)計木椅相當(dāng)不容易，不止是形狀，還有結(jié)構(gòu)，材質(zhì)，均衡，重量等因素，最后還要坐起來舒適。我與Maruni的相遇促成了這一理念的實現(xiàn)。始于1928年的Maruni憑借其“工業(yè)化工藝“的口號，成功實現(xiàn)工業(yè)化做出的手工般高貴品質(zhì)的木質(zhì)家具。從2008年開始的廣島系列，從餐椅和桌子用的是山毛櫸和橡木。其傳統(tǒng)系列中的地中海系列和凡爾賽系列是歐洲上世紀(jì)80年代最暢銷的家居。
深澤直人

 

Maruni于1928年成立，是日本古典家具品牌中的翹楚。

 

Maruni輯設(shè)定了全球市場的新標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。
 

廣島系列家具始于2008年，由日本的國際知名設(shè)計師深澤直人設(shè)計。期望這個家具系列恒久彌新，經(jīng)典永恒。每年發(fā)行的Maruni家具都被成為Maruni輯。深澤直人對其推進(jìn)起到了不可磨滅的作用。深澤直人說道：“椅子，一直以充滿溫暖感的獨特手工制作為特點，而不是強(qiáng)調(diào)設(shè)計的工藝產(chǎn)品，這個系列注重于細(xì)膩與清晰的形象，同時保留住人類的溫暖感。”
 

 

廣島系列的家具反映了日本獨有的美學(xué)，并將其帶入日常。產(chǎn)品使用天然木材，不上油漆或者清漆。
 

廣島系列家具在2009年于米蘭展覽時，獲得了巨大的關(guān)注，銷往世界上20多個國家。2010年，Naoto Fukasawa擔(dān)任藝術(shù)總監(jiān)，與深澤直人攜手合作打造Maruni輯的鮮明日系家具，2011年，Jasper Morrison加入，以期讓其取得更長足的發(fā)展。

 

Maruni輯追求打造引起世界共鳴的美麗日本家具。

  

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