Layer Nofoa by Fuma Fujiwara is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award Ario in Mamanu Meafale Competition Category.

ArioMeafale· 2023

Layer Nofoa

by Fuma Fujiwara

Client: Fujiwara Fuma

A' Design Award Ario Winner in Meafale Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #150916

View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Layer Nofoa

Na amata le poloketi i le faia o meaafale mai la'au laiti le lautele ma fafie. O fafie i Okinawa ua paʻu ona o faʻalavelave faʻalenatura ma le faʻalauteleina o auala. Ae ui i lea, i tausaga talu ai nei, ua faʻaititia le faʻalauteleina o auala ona o iloiloga o le siosiomaga, o lea ua faʻaitiitia ai foi fafie. Ina ia faʻaauau le faia o meaafale a Okinawa, sa manaʻomia le faʻaogaina o mea laiti. O le mea lea, o le Layer nofoa na faia e ala i le tuʻufaʻatasia o ituaiga o fafie. E faia mai otaota ua toe fa'aaogaina. O lenei mamanu ua fa'ailoa mai ai se tau fou e ala i le toe fausia o mea otaota mai fafie Okinawan i poloka.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Ario

O le A' Design Award Ario na manumalo ai Layer Nofoa, o se faamaoniga matuā mamalu e tuuina atu i mamanu sili ona lelei, matagofie ma mataʻutia. O ē manumalo i le Ario o galuega susulu tele ma fatufatuaʻi e faaalia ai le poto, le taleni ma le atamai o tagata mamanu. E faamoemoeina Layer Nofoa e avea ma galuega matagofie, o se fesuiaiga mo isi, e iloga i le tomai faapolofesa ma mea fou loloto. O lenei mamanu na manumalo i le A' Design Award Ario o se mea e iloga, ua mataʻina e aogā ma tuleia atu tapulaʻa o le faatufugaga, saienisi, mamanu ma tekonolosi. Layer Nofoa o se mea e fiafia i ai le toatele, e fafagu ai manaʻoga, aumaia ai lagona lelei ma tupu ai le ofo.

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]