While every piece in Japanese furniture brand Ariake’s growing collection is meticulously handcrafted in Japan, they all have been designed for the world. From Oslo-based design studio Anderssen & Voll to French designer Inga Sempé, the brand’s global roster of collaborators brings together traditional craft, advanced machining and a nuanced understanding of contemporary living. Grafunkt sat down with Ariake’s chief executive officer, Kengo Kabashima, and creative director, Gabriel Tan, to learn about the brand’s distinctive creative process and where it is headed next.
Could you describe Ariake in a nutshell?
Kengo Kabashima (KK): It’s a furniture brand founded by Legnatec and Hirata Chair, two factories based in Morodomi, a furniture-producing town in Saga Prefecture. We believe that strong relationships set the foundation for good products, so we bring international designers and our craftspeople together regularly for workshops where they live and create together.
Image: Ariake Dovetail Stools in Sumi Ash, Oak & Smoked Oak
Ariake is well-known for its yearly intensive workshops. What was the inspiration?
Gabriel Tan (GT): I was inspired by IKEA’s workshops, where the brand would fly designers to a small village in Sweden to develop products for the PS collection together. Designers who have been to these workshops told me that it was an amazing experience, so this idea stayed in my head for a while. When I came on as Ariake’s creative director, we only had six months left until our next furniture fair, so I thought of getting 10-20 designers together to work intensively with the craftspeople to prototype and create new furniture.
Image: Designers and their teams with their prototypes
How do you ensure that all the pieces gel together?
GT: I will usually work on a functional brief with Kengo a few months before the workshop, where we decide on the products that we need for that collection. But there’s also the philosophical brief, which is to create new icons of Japanese design, products that will be remembered 10 years from now.
Image: Braid Sofa 3-Seater and Braid Sofa Lounge Chair
How do you decide on which designers to join the workshop?
GT: I would choose designers who are collaborative in nature because we will all be living in Japan together in simple, traditional guesthouses. There is a lot of cross-collaboration where we would help one another out and always ask someone else’s opinions. It can feel like we’re back at school, and it’s a fresh feeling for independent practitioners to come together and learn from each other.
Image: Teamwork Between Designers Behind Ariake
A distinctive part of Ariake are the natural dyes. Could you share more about them?
KK: The black stain is made of sumi (traditional black ink) – the material used for calligraphy – and carbon powder. What’s unique about our technique is that once we spray onto the furniture, we will wipe it clean immediately, which helps to preserve the visual of the grain. A unique colour for Ariake is the indigo stain, which uses 30% natural indigo pigment and the same techniques.
Image: Rikyu Sideboard in Natural Oak
What can someone expect from Ariake this year?
GT: We’ll be introducing new types of furniture and the overall aesthetic is shifting slightly. We have roped new designers into our fold who have challenged the usual Airake aesthetic. A brand needs to evolve and not remain the same.
Image: Lattice Table, Ariake Chair, Holm Chair
