Washika Chair

Made from solid Hinoki by hand in our workshop.
For orders of more than 8 pieces, inquire with us about volume discount. 

I found myself wondering what a chair might look like if sitting at 45cm had always been a Japanese custom. If the western sitting height had evolved in Japan organically, what form would it have taken?

One thing seems certain: it would not have four pointy legs. There is no precedent in Japanese design for that kind of structural bluntness. Every junction is carefully considered. The chair leg has no elegance, let alone the damage it causes to softwood floors and tatami.

The joinery presented its own set of questions. Any manufacturing techniques would need to work in solid hinoki. Unlike most of the furniture currently being produced in Japan, which relies heavily on imported hardwoods, I wanted this chair to be made entirely from locally sourced domestic timber. 

Washika Chair is a Japanese chair for a history that never happened.