Collaboration Starting from Riki’s Attitude to Take on a Challenge

The full-scale drawing derives from the RIKI WINDSOR collection, which started up in 1981 as the first collaboration project with a late renowned Japanese product designer, Riki Watanabe. In the following year, this chair was adopted in a hotel of which interior he designed. When receiving an offer from him, CONDE HOUSE’s president at that time was so moved in deeply feeling that the company finally got recognized as a quality furniture maker by the designer he always admired. It has become a mystery why Riki placed such an offer to us still nameless and young then, but as his first impression, “CONDE HOUSE has already had a strong policy of working closely with designers, and every member, from the president down to craftspeople, has shared the same,” said he.

Perfect Balance by Riki’s Magic

Usually, rocking chairs require at least two or three trial productions because of the difficultly in meeting the center of gravity and rocking balance. One day, Riki visited our factory with the full-scale drawing. To our surprise, the prototype we made based on the drawing had the perfect balance in just one go. “The drawing was thoroughly considered and developed with our staff, and so, I was relieved about and proud of the outcome,” he later revealed. Riki-design distinguishing features can be seen in the slightly lower upholstered seating, the armrests trimmed off in the middle of the curve, etc. Riki commented, “I didn’t intentionally design the chair to be oriental, but it just resulted in a Japanese-style design.” This story reminds us of past days with him. He always enjoyed fresh fish and local sake when coming to Hokkaido, which, we believe, would have enabled him to be active throughout his life.

Shungo Ijima

He is travelling around the world. His passion is to explain Japan to the world, from the unique viewpoint accumulated through his career: overseas posting, MBA holder, former official of the Ministry of Finance.

“Could you engrave the names of all sever family members on the back of the tabletop?” This inquiry well expresses the character of IPPONGI, one of our table collections. People who order this collection seem to want something more for furniture than what mass-produced products can offer. IPPONGI is a wooden table made with trees that have lived for over a hundred years; made for people who can enjoy the figures and knots of the trees as their unique characters. Sometimes, customers come to our factory to handpick their own special pieces out of the pile of wood materials in the drying process. Every piece of wood has its own expression: cracks, holes, etc. made under severe natural circumstances, and those special pieces chose by customers are then created into the one and only pieces of furniture in the world.

Before starting to process wood, our craftspeople carefully study it, taking a look in all directions; touching the surface, etc. This is the important process of getting to know wood correctly, as they say. Furniture using this kind of wood (with strong natural characters) tends to be rustic and bulky, but they devise ways to create a delicate design while accentuating the definitions of such wood.

Recently, it becomes difficult to procure wood in low grade which no one wanted to use for furniture a few years ago. More and more people have become aware that wood with strong natural characters can be made into beautiful pieces of furniture. We don’t think its an obstruction for us, but are pleased to know that the new value of wood created by our IPPONGI collection has started to grow. It is a sound community where people use wood thoroughly having respect for wood materials as one of the blessings from the forest. We are sure that the aforementioned customer will cherish our IPPONGI table for many generations to come, and expect there will be a request to engrave the name of a new additional family member in the future.

Shungo Ijima

He is travelling around the world. His passion is to explain Japan to the world, from the unique viewpoint accumulated through his career: overseas posting, MBA holder, former official of the Ministry of Finance.

We Restore it but Don’t Make it All New

Our long-seller “BOLS” sofas often come back to us from around the country for restoration. The one in the above image was sent to us by a customer who fell in love with this sofa and purchased it several decades ago. Urethane foam cushions wrapped in cotton appeared from under the worn-out nu-buck upholstery. They have lost their resilience especially in the center part, and been stained from the leather. We are always pleased to see worn-out sofas return because that means the users love them and want to keep using them further.

We Intentionally Leave Memorable Scars as They Are.

However, restoration could be somewhat challenging even for our craftsmen. In fact, it’s a lot harder than making one from scratch. Craftsmen must be able to determine to what extent the piece of furniture needs to be restored and which elements should be left untouched. It’s not as simple as making it look brand new. Scars and stains made on wooden parts over the years may tell stories, and well-used ambiances produce rich warmth in the living room. Such unique histories alive in furniture must be left even after restoration. For this BOLS sofa, we decided to use the existing frame, apply a new coating on the architrave and arm rests, change the old cushions to a molded urethane foam which is more resilient, and upholster the new cushions with new leather, which should prolong its life for another good bit.

Not for Profit but for Hearing Customers Saying “Welcome Back!”

To tell the truth, there’s not much profit in restoration work. Every piece of furniture has its own condition made in long-term use. We must exam each and every one of them, remove the upholstery and coating carefully, and decide on how it needs to be restored, which takes time and is unable to be streamlined because no two conditions are the same. But this is something we are willing to do: To utilize limited wood resources for as long as possible, and to show our gratitude towards our customers. Any hard work is worth it when we think of those who are looking forward to having their restored furniture back. I love it to hear our customers say “Welcome back!” to restored furniture when we deliver it to their home.

Shungo Ijima

He is travelling around the world. His passion is to explain Japan to the world, from the unique viewpoint accumulated through his career: overseas posting, MBA holder, former official of the Ministry of Finance.

A Group of Challenge Addicts

“Wow, this should be difficult.” This was the impression we got when first seeing the sketches of the chair, but the stunningly beautiful design intrigued us. Furthermore, someone said with enthusiasm, “We can learn a lot from overcoming the difficulties!” The chair, LAPIS, has a conventional Finish look, designed by a Finish designer couple, Sirkka and Timo Saarnio. This simple chair is composed of only three parts, and is as light as three kilograms with a backrest of beautiful grains, an ergonomic seating to fit the body line, and sturdy legs to firmly support body weight, which became feasible by the latest technology (at that time) of wood molding press.

Patience for the Egos of Wood Pieces

The biggest difficulty we faced in developing this chair was wood warping. Each piece of wood has its own way of bending and twisting. Wood may continue to change its shape for a certain period of time even after molding press is applied. In most cases, it stays still after that, but sometimes it becomes grumpy and gets out of hand. We can hear them complaining; “Hey, it’s too humid,” “What’s with the weather here?” Nevertheless, we struggled to convert the beautiful design into a product by establishing a more sophisticated wood molding press technique and widening the distance between the legs for more stability.

DANGER DO NOT SIT

The chair in the photo is the first prototype produced only to check the style, and so, strength tests had not been conducted on them yet. We needed to place a notice on the chair for our other staff who is always thrilled to try out new chairs. I know that they love wood so much that they won’t get mad even if chairs break and they tumble down on to the floor, but you know, just in case!

Shungo Ijima

He is travelling around the world. His passion is to explain Japan to the world, from the unique viewpoint accumulated through his career: overseas posting, MBA holder, former official of the Ministry of Finance.