Naoto Fukasawa
March 12th, 2010I’ve been obsessed with furniture design, specifically chair design, for some time now. My all-time favorite chair designer is none other than the brilliant Hans Wegner. If you’ve never heard of the name, you’ve probably seen one of his classic chairs.
Recently though, I’ve become obsessed with the chair designs of Naoto Fukasawa. Fukasawa is best known for his MUJI CD player, Plus Minus Zero Humidifier, and au/KDDI INFOBAR and Neon phones, all of which are part of MoMA’s permanent collection.
Since 2008, Fukasawa has designed a furniture series for Japanese company Maruni Collection for their Hiroshima line. The collection includes a dinning set and a living set, all constructed with beech and oak wood. The entire line is simply stunning, but what stands out for me are the small dining chairs pictured here. The simple, streamlined design, the mix of sharp and rounded edges and corners, along with the choice of wood make for a beautifully designed chair. Too bad it costs an arm and a leg or I’d fill up my apartment with them.
Prin
Naoto’s work is very clean and functional.
I also love Muji manufactured by Thonet collection as well.
James
There truly is something special about Naoto Fukasawa’s work — he has that rare gift to know exactly what to leave out of his designs to make them the absolute perfect marriage of form and function.
This chair reminds me of another of my favourites, the Plywood series by Jasper Morrison. Another great designer with a minimalist aesthetic.
I’m really glad you brought Fukasawa back to the forefront of my mind’s eye, I’m going to catch up on what he’s been doing recently.
Keep up the great work Antonio!