| WASO Development Story
WASO, our second brand of Japanese modern furniture series was developed through seeking beauty in Japanese tradition, setting a mellow feminine mould as the primary figure, in contrast with WAKON, the first in the series, which had more rough masculine characteristics.
The outward curve of the design is reminiscent of the Sumiki technique (curving wood structures used to support the roof at its corners) and the Taruki technique (curving wood structures under the eaves), seen in the architecture of the Japanese temples and shrines.
Along with the twisting phase the two wooden parts cross in the centre to form an R shape, expressing the providence and irregularities of nature.
The elegant style of the backrests of chairs are particularly beautiful, with graceful curves reminiscent of the Kimono trains seen in the Kudara image of Buddha or Japanese beauties drawn in Ukiyoe paintings. The back part is designed to give the impression of a light image, with a curve to save the outward spread of the legs near the ground, although the chair itself is in fact firmly built.
‘Japanese furniture for Japanese people’. The sliding doors of the upper part of the cabinet, made of glass and wood, are designed in a chessboard pattern, and the sliding doors of the lower part are designed in a bar structure made of wood, both reminiscent of the wooden facades of the old part of Takayama city. The fine bar structure seen at the back of the armchairs and sofa are designed to provoke the image of fukiyoserengo-goshi, another traditional architectural technique of the city. Between the bars is the fabric covering with design especially developed for the series based on traditional kasuri fabric. The fabric was designed to express senbon-goshi(traditional bar structures) and bamboo curtain traditionally seen in original wooden facades.
The colour KR of the wooden parts in the WASO series is based on the colour Kuri – the so-called colour of wet clay. It is the dark colour of the soil at stagnant riverbeds. This dark tint has been developed to give a high quality texture, although the colour itself is very smooth. It is often used in dying for black colour. The colour conveys the image of Japanese women’s black hair.
The newly developed fabric covering is a combination of micro-fibres and Kasuri, a traditional Japanese weaving technique. We named this new fabric ‘soft kasuri’. For the colours of Kasuri we applied the indigo-blue of tanitsuzome, a single indigo-blue dying, and reddish-brown, like kakishibuzome, persimmon juice dying, which had often been used for umbrellas and sake bags in the past.
Normally the kasuri patterns are woven vertically but this fabric is woven horizontally especially for this series, a technique that requires veteran weavers to constantly oversee and maneuver the procedure.
Nature is an ever-present force full of infinite expression. The wind blows, water rushes, fire flickers, sometimes calmly and sometimes vigorously. It is an essential foundation to the Japanese culture and lifestyle. The people have a strong solidarity with nature, believing that only when completely exposed to and in harmony with nature one can be both physically and mentally healed and reborn. There is a traditional Japanese style called wafu(wa-style), which has loved the presentations of nature and nurtured it as a culture through the generations. We believe that the Japanese can find true calm and physical rebirth through this traditional wa lifestyle.
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