【FOCUS IT.] Renovation is innovation. Designer Takayuki Fujii reissues Maruni Woodworks' hidden masterpieces.

Maruni Woodworks' pop-up event "RE-INNOVATION," which was held at Isetan Shinjuku in 2022 and 2023 and attracted a great deal of attention, will be held again this year. The event will be led by Takayuki Fujii, a designer of "non-native," who is known as a furniture enthusiast. This will be the third time he has participated in this event. We asked Mr. Fujii, who has created many famous collaborations with fashion brands, about furniture and how it differs from fashion, as well as his thoughts on the subject.

Photo_Masayuki Nakaya
Text_Shinri Kobayashi
Edit_Ryo Komuta

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A container where you can put anything.

This is the third installment of the "RE-INNOVATION" series, which has continued from last year and the year before.

Fujii：Until now, we have been selling furniture made by Old Maruni (*a nickname for furniture manufactured by Maruni Woodworks from the early 1950s to the mid-1970s), which was reproduced at our factory. This time, the big change is that we made it from scratch.

I'm glad you have a wide variety of colors, but why do you have four different colors?

Fujii: Each household naturally has a different floor color. This magazine rack is often looked down on from the eye level, and it is very important that it matches the floor, so we made it possible to choose a color that matches the floor.

Mr. Fujii, you have been using this magazine rack in your home for a long time, haven't you?

Fujii：I saw this furniture on an auction site in 2010 or so, and without knowing where it came from, I intuitively thought the design was good, so I won the bid. I knew about Maruni Woodworks, but I had never heard of the Old Maruni genre, and I bought two pieces without knowing that they were Maruni furniture. I had never heard of the Old Marni genre, and I bought two of them without knowing they were Marni furniture. I thought they would go well with my Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand furniture. Old Marni was about the same generation as those artists, so I think he was probably influenced by the various information that was coming into Japan.

How do you use it at home?

FUJII: Sometimes I grab it and carry it. In our house, one of them holds slippers, and the other one is placed by the bedside and holds rather a complete set of things. It can hold everything from kids' toys, laptops, complete sets of wiring, etc. The receptacle can be separated so you can put vegetables on it. It can be used for more than just magazines, so I think the name "magazine rack" can be changed (laughs).

I like that it is versatile.

Fujii: I thought it would be good to put vegetables and other items in it and place it on a table in a restaurant, or have people use it as a thoughtful luggage container in a hotel or restaurant.

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Updated price, wood grain, engraving.

The one in the back was reproduced at last year's RE-INNOVATION, and the one in the front is the original.

What are the differences between the original furniture from those days and the new products?

Fujii: The magazine rack will be made of teak and rattan from Southeast Asia.

Fujii: Actually, it is quite difficult to manufacture this product in Japan today, including the cost, so we made it in China, and only the final touches were done by a Maruni Wood Works group company in Japan, which specializes in repairs.MARNI FURNISHINGThe repair work is done at a repair factory in Tokyo, Japan. If we had done this final process in Japan, we could have claimed that the product was made in Japan, but we did not do so because we use materials from Southeast Asia and the base is made in China.

Like apparel, China's technological breakthrough is remarkable. The magazine racks you had on display last year and the year before were all one-of-a-kind and limited in number, weren't they?

Fujii: Yes, that's right. That is why the price was inevitably high, so this time we wanted to make it affordable. I guess I wanted the furniture to be easy to use. If you consider that it can be used for a long time, the price range should not be expensive at all.

The grain of the wood also has a different feel.

Fujii:Unlike today, the paint used on furniture in the old days was so sticky that it erased the grain of the wood. Also, the grain itself was weak, so we changed to a stronger grain this time. Furniture makers usually cut off strong, unique grains, but in this case, they were a bit incredulous.

How will this wood change over time?

Fujii: It depends on how much sun you use the model in, but darker models will fade a bit more. If you want to repaint them in the future, you can use the services of "Maruni Woodworking," or you can customize them to a completely different color.such a serviceI would like to spread the word more, because it is not well known that there is a service that allows you to choose your own color for sneakers. There is a service that allows you to choose your own color for sneakers, and I think it should be like that.

What is this "544" engraving?

Fujii: This time, the model number is 544, based on a blueprint from 1970. Maruni Woodworking's products from that time basically do not have model names, but are numbered according to the order in which they were made. The magazine racks I had made up until last year had the Old Maruni peacock mark from the 1960s model, but this time I used the number 544. The image I had in mind was that of a "Porsche" 911. I hope that people will continue to use it for a long time, just as they did with that car.

The peacock mark, the symbol of Old Maruni. The design was submitted to a nationwide competition in the newspaper, and it is meant to symbolize the fluttering away into a new era.

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Things other than the product appear in the product.

Did you visit Maruni's main factory in Hiroshima again?

Fujii: Yes. I had the same impression when I first visited the company, but I also had the impression that it was very tidy and organized. The company has been in Hiroshima for nearly 100 years, and the blueprints were well kept and neatly organized. I think this is clearly reflected in the furniture.

Is it something that appears in the product?

Fujii: It does show. If a denim shop's factory is dirty, rough sewing, etc., it will certainly show in the product.

When Mr. Fujii made the uniforms for the restaurant, Mr. Toba told me that you look very closely at not only the clothes but also the surrounding items.

Fujii: Yes, that's right. For example, it doesn't matter if the tools are famous or expensive; we look to see if they are well cared for. I once saw a frying pan in Mr. Toba's kitchen that was well cared for and looked cool, but he couldn't tell which manufacturer it was from. That's why it tasted so good, I thought.

What was the most difficult part of the reissue?

Fujii: After all, no matter how hard you try, you can't bring out the atmosphere of those days. I think that is true of any furniture. However, the furniture itself has evolved, and I am confident that the performance is better. For example, the legs are joined by an uneven joint called kumi-jointing, which is very strong and beautifully finished. The Chinese side took the liberty of changing the specifications (laughs), but we agreed that this one is better.

So you will be supervising under your own name this time as well, instead of Mr. Fujii of "Non-Native"?

Fujii: If we were to collaborate with [non-native], we would have to bring out [non-native]'s colors, but this time we didn't design the products. The furniture genre is different from fashion; it is a separate page. Of course, I want the customers who buy "non-native" to be interested in furniture, too.

Above is the original screw and joint specifications. And below is the updated product. The details have been rearranged.

Mr. Fujii is a member of "UNDERCOVER" and Mr. Jun Takahashi of "UNDERCOVER".How did you get started with OZISM?I am involved in Japanese design from a so-called "modern" perspective. Do you like Japanese furniture as well?

Fujii：I like Charlotte Perriand's designs, but when I look into it, I find it very interesting that Perriand was influenced by Japan, and some of her works are modern updates of folk art. Also, Kunio Maekawa and others traveled back and forth between France and Japan during that period, and various types of furniture were born from that. When I saw this magazine rack, I imagined such a story.

Before Corona, everyone was oriented toward foreign countries. But after Corona, I took a fresh look at Japan and realized how great it is. Also, I am from Nara, and the architecture around temples is also amazing, and I once again felt the depth of the country.

What are your expectations for this event?

Fujii: I hope that this exhibition will be a gateway to the world of furniture for many people, including young people who normally like fashion but are actually interested in furniture. Now we just need to see if the Maruni employees can get the message across. That's why I would like to see it posted on the Maruni website. There is a pattern in the world of people not knowing about their own company, but we want our employees to see that Maruni Wood Works has done things properly up to now.

Maruni doesn't have a specific designer, so it's not possible for us to reissue a product like this in the first place. However, "Maruni Woodworking" is a very unique product.HIROSHIMAThe "Apple" is also used in the headquarters of "Apple",Naoto Fukasawaand ... andJasper Morrison, ,Cecilie Manz.The company has also been working with the "Mere Old Man" and has produced some new designs. But unfortunately, not many people know about the past. We hope that many people will be exposed to these things through this event.

This time, the exhibition will be held on the 5th floor of Isetan Shinjuku.

Fujii: I think the number of people who visit the furniture floor of department stores is still limited, but (pointing to the pop-up booth next door) there are many interesting things on this floor, so I hope people will visit.