Hiroshima Armchair

Overview

The HIROSHIMA Armchair (wooden seat) is credited to Naoto Fukasawa; Maruni's product sheet gives the designer and the year 2008. The sheet says that, looking as if it was carved out of solid wood, it features beautiful gentle curves from the arms through the back, and that the luxurious seating comfort allows it to be used as a lounge chair in addition to being an excellent dining chair. It is offered as Low or High.

Construction

The wood is beech, ash, oak or walnut; the sheet says it comes from beech trees in Europe and from ash, oak or walnut trees in North America, managed and felled in a planned manner, and that furniture in certified wood can be made on request. The coating and glue are tested for formaldehyde emissions to ISO 12460 and confirmed not to exceed 0.4 mg/l. Polyethylene leg gliders, with felt or plastic bottoms, can be fitted and are sold separately.

Specifications

• Low: W560 × D530 × H765 mm, seat height 425 mm
• High: W560 × D530 × H790 mm, seat height 450 mm
• Tests: ISO 7173-L4 (strength and durability), ISO 7174 (stability); purpose of use: indoor
• Finish codes by wood on the sheet: beech NL-0, EC-1, EA-1; ash NL-0, WS-1, NK-1; oak NQ-0, BNK-1, NU-0, BOG-0, C-0, NL-0, NK-1, OG-0; walnut C-0, WB-1

Fukasawa on wooden chairs

The product sheet quotes Naoto Fukasawa: he had wanted to design good wooden chairs, ones that become permeated with a flavor of daily living as they are used over a long time, like the plain-wooden chairs of Scandinavia. He saw the same artistic element in Japanese wooden products, especially the unfinished ones mainly made from cypress, which give a sense of refined, immaculate, exalted purity, and aimed for a refined and pure aura that at the same time has human warmth.

Light and shadow

The sheet says light and shadow playing across the chair make a gorgeous contrast that further brings out its form. A Maruni news item of 24 June 2014 reports its inclusion in Designmuseum Danmark's permanent collection.