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ABOUT KITANI
The Story
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First encounter with Danish furniture through furnishings for welfare facilities
| Established in 1967, Kitani Co., Ltd. began its history by engaging in work such as urethane foam processing and chair upholstery, but from around 1990 it began build-to-order production of furniture intended for hotels, restaurants, and elderly welfare facilities. At that time, nearly all furniture items for welfare facilities were imported from Northern Europe. Their refined design and light construction could not be easily duplicated, and so there was an urgent need to acquire techniques to produce furniture that was both functional and able to satisfy customers. It was at this point, in 1994, that we traveled to Denmark ourselves to learn first-hand about the production of furniture for welfare facilities. |
Discovering the “intelligence” existing in furniture
As part of our studies in furniture for welfare facilities, there were many opportunities for us to encounter furniture items that were broken or needed repair, and it was these, which were brought back to Japan as hands-on teaching materials for Kitani’s technicians, which gave us our true introduction to Northern European furniture. Among the items that were treated as “scrap” were works from renowned designers including Wegner and Finn Juhl, however due to our lack of knowledge regarding Northern European furniture at the time, the technicians at Kitani began their repair with only a partially-in-doubt stance. As work on them continued, however, we realized that they were made using highly-advanced production that could not be copied in terms of both techniques and materials, and we could not hide our amazement at the high level of craftsmanship of Northern European furniture.
Revival of “Intelligence”
As we performed repairs on a tremendous number of furniture items, the discerning eyes of Kitani’s technicians began to develop and grow. With the desire to have more and more people see the true essence of this furniture, in 2001 we held “Revival of ‘Intelligence’”, a nationwide exhibition to introduce people to the structures used in Northern European furniture. This exhibition stemmed from the ideas of paying tribute to our predecessors who had learned so much through their repair work, and considering whether there was something we could do to become involved with it ourselves. In actuality, today there are fewer and fewer craftsmen inheriting these techniques in their home country of Denmark, and there had been grave concerns over whether the “true” forms of this furniture would soon disappear. Against this backdrop, we were granted opportunities to speak with many Danish designers and workshop owners, communicating the thoughts we had as Kitani and expressing our desire to support and inherit the traditions of these technical skills.
Revival of “Intelligence”exhibition (2001)
Licensed production of 33 furniture items from 6 designers
| We were honored to be able to accept technical knowledge directly from Mr. Larsen, a snedkermester (Danish master of furniture-making) of leading workshop Christensen & Larsen. Mr. Larsen fully recognized the efforts made by Kitani toward furniture repair up to that time, as well as its stance regarding the transmission of technical skill, and from him we received masterpieces, molds, and many other valuable items. After this, we obtained licenses for the works of 6 designers - Ib Kofod-Larsen, Jacob Kjaer, Finn Juhl, Sigurd Resell, Nanna Ditzel, and Bent Andersen, and in the current year of 2015 we are engaged in the licensed production of 33 items of Northern European Furniture not produced in their origin country. |  |
The only exhibit from a Japanese furniture manufacturer To the Stockholm Furniture Fair
For 2 consecutive years in 2010 and 2011, Kitani held exhibits of our products at the Stockholm Furniture Fair. We were proud to allow visitors to see our high level of technical skill, which we have applied to our production of Northern European furniture over many years.
Stockholm Furniture Fair(2011)
| 2016/07/10 |
