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Layer Stool by Fuma Fujiwara

Layer Stool by Fuma Fujiwara is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award Perak in Desain Prabot Competition Category.


PerakPrabot· 2023

Layer Stool

by Fuma Fujiwara

Client: Fujiwara Fuma

A' Design Award Perak Winner in Prabot Category

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Verified Award Winner

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Colors

The Design

About Layer Stool

Proyek kasebut diwiwiti kanthi nggawe perabot saka wit-witan diameter cilik lan kayu bekas. Kayu ing Okinawa ditebang amarga bencana alam lan ekspansi dalan. Nanging, ing taun-taun pungkasan, ekspansi dalan saya suda amarga pertimbangan lingkungan, mula kayu uga nyusut. Kanggo terus nggawe perabotan Okinawa, sampeyan kudu nggunakake bahan cilik. Mulane, stool Layer digawe kanthi nggabungake macem-macem jinis kayu. Iku digawe saka sampah upcycled. Desain iki ngusulake nilai anyar kanthi mbangun maneh bahan sampah saka kayu Okinawa dadi blok.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Perak

Layer Stool menang A' Design Award Perak, pangenalan sing prestisius banget sing diparingake marang desain tingkat dhuwur, endah lan nggumunake. Pemenang Perak iku karya sing sumunar banget lan kreatif banget sing nggambarake kaprigelan, bakat lan kaweruh para desainer. Layer Stool dikarepake dadi karya sing nggumunake, conto teladan, profesional banget lan inovatif banget. Desain sing menang A' Design Award Perak iki iku panemuan sing luar biasa banget lan dikagumi sing paring manfaat lan nyurung maju wates seni, sains, desain lan teknologi. Layer Stool iku ciptaan sing akeh sing ngirenake sing nggugah kekarepan, nggawa perasaan positif lan nuwuhake gumun lan kagum.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties
This project used small-diameter trees and scrap wood to make furniture. Wood in Okinawa is felled due to natural disasters and road expansion. Large pieces of wood are needed to make furniture. Therefore, I made woodcuts by combining a wide variety of woods. They are made by upcycling discarded materials. This design proposes a new value for the colorful "Okinawa tree".
Dimensions & Packaging
Width 640 mm x Depth 380 mm x Height 500 mm
Tags
stool, furniture, Okinawa, End material
Production Technology
To continue making Okinawan furniture, we need a way to use materials without waste. Therefore, we collected small pieces of wood and trees with small diameters discarded at lumber shops and workshops.

Seat : Camphor tree, Melia azedarach, Magnolia compressa, Castanopsis sieboldii, Acacia confusa, Pinus luchuensis, Tetradium glabrifolium, Trema orientalis, Podocarpus macrophyllus.
Legs : Acacia confusa.
Finish: beeswax.
Design Challenge
Layers are created by stacking trees. Those layers are usually horizontal. To show all the trees on the surface, I was inspired to express this by making the layers slanted. Creating the diagonal layers was the most challenging part. The diagonal layers created beautiful curves. I also tried to find a way to combine light and dark colors in the wood combination.
Research
Okinawa is Japan's southernmost archipelago and was once called the Ryukyu Kingdom. Okinawa has long had a different culture from Japan's main island, and other types of wood have been used. Twenty years ago, trees with large diameters were circulating in Okinawa, but recently the diameter of the trees in circulation is about 35 centimeters, and the material is shrinking. Finding a way to utilize small materials was necessary to sustain Okinawan furniture production, so the research began.
Inspiration
I live in Okinawa, an island in the south of Japan. Okinawa is known as the only subtropical region in Japan and has unique vegetation and culture. Many kinds of trees live on the island. Many types of trees are unique to the island, and I was surprised that there were many characteristic features, such as the trees color, smell, and texture. I made this furniture using nine kinds of Okinawan trees to let people know about Okinawan trees.
Project Duration
The project started in Okinawa in January 2023. The first deliverable was completed in March 2023 and exhibited at the Tokyo International Furniture Fair (IFFT).
Operation Flow
The hand-carved seat has a gentle slope. The indentation in the center of the chair gently fits your waist. The seat and legs of the chair can be disassembled. It is compact and portable and can be transported in flat-pack packaging. When assembling, it can be manufactured immediately just by inserting the legs.
Image Credits
[Image # 1: Photographer Fuma Fujiwara, Layer Stool, 2023]
[Image # 2: Photographer Fuma Fujiwara, Layer Stool, 2023]
[Image # 3: Photographer Fuma Fujiwara, Layer Stool, 2023]
[Image # 4: Photographer Fuma Fujiwara, Layer Stool, 2023]
[Image # 5: Photographer Fuma Fujiwara, Layer Stool, 2023]

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