A Chair for a Lifetime

Ryuji Mitani

Although I am not a furniture designer, I have always been interested in chairs in the same way that I am interested in vessels. For a long time, I have held in my heart the desire to design a chair, even if it is only one chair in my lifetime. This time, that wish has finally come to fruition in the form of the 3r-h armchair.

Actually, I held a furniture exhibition in 2006. The title of the exhibition was Furniture Born from Daily Life. Rather than designing it myself, I always asked my craftsmen friends to make furniture that I wanted to have in my daily life. Over time, I had gathered a lot of these pieces of furniture, which is why I held the exhibition.

I have always believed that design is born from the desire to make life a little better. That is why I believe that it is not something for specialists alone, but something that people themselves should think about and learn in order to make their homes comfortable. It is the same as improving one’s sense of style for clothes, and I think this skill is even more important because a residence has more special requirements than the human body.

To begin with, before “designer” was a profession, houses and furniture were created by craftsmen who thought together with the people who lived in the houses. When this was outsourced to specialists, mass production became the norm, and it became difficult to create products that perfectly fit individual lifestyles. Therefore, I think it would be better if design could be made more accessible by freeing it from specialization. I would like to see the spread of a method whereby consumers regain the power to design on their own, order in their own words what fits their homes and feelings perfectly, and make it together with craftspeople.

The 3r-h armchair is made of solid oak with a wooden frame and a leather seat with plenty of cushion. I tried to create a chair for daily use at the dining table, a lightweight design that would never get old. For the armrests, which are in contact with the hand, I aimed to create a shape that would improve in character as it ages.

When I was approached to create a chair, the first thing that came to mind was the Shaker-designed low-back chair. Of all the chairs I had seen over the years, I liked this one the best. The low back is low and unobtrusive, and even in a room it is not visually intrusive. I have always been strongly attracted to its quiet appearance.

Chairs originally functioned as symbols of authority, as in the king’s throne. With the advent of mass production, they became more available to common people. Even so, there is still some vestige of this role in highback chairs. The Shaker low-back chair, however, has none of that. I wanted to learn from that chair’s understated appearance and make one that would blend quietly into modern lifestyles.

This chair embodies the lifestyles of people I have seen and the quiet time I have spent with them. A chair is something that accompanies you in your daily life and quietly supports you when you are tired or happy. A chair is a tool that walks with you through the great moments of living and life. It is always in the same place, receiving the body of someone who comes to it, and quietly passing the time. I hope this will be such a chair.

It has been said that a person can write a novel in his or her lifetime. It might be done by tracing one’s own path and weaving together the thoughts and memories that reside there. But even if you have a subject, it requires composed observation and the ability to write to bring it to life. A chair may well be similar to that.

This time, fortunately, I was able to work with Hida Sangyo’s excellent engineering and design team to create the chair. Thanks to them, I think I was able to arrive at a form that could be called my own response to the chair. I am deeply grateful for this encounter.