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ABOUT KITANI
Workshop&Showroom
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Our main building and workshop, built on the former site of a Shibukusa-yaki pottery workshop (*)
Our company’s main building, which was constructed on the former site of a Shibukusa-yaki pottery workshop, contains workshops and showrooms for woodwork and fabric upholstery. In the woodwork shop, craftspeople at actual work producing furniture can be observed through a glass panel, so that visitors can experience even just a small part of Kitani’s craftsmanship history.*A type of pottery representative of Takayama
“Syukojin”, a symbol of furniture makers
This is a bronze statue of god enshrined on Kitani’s premises as a symbol of furniture makers all over the world. Hands are the most important tool for craftsmen, who learn their skills not with their brains but with their hands. The hand of this Handicraft God extends from the brain, and its fingers, which represent both the right and left hands, point upward as if its fingertips were connected to the heavens above. The statue’s wrist has a face on the front side, and the whole brain area forms “precincts of god” with the shrine pavilion and the innermost shrine in it, strengthening the statue’s image as a god of handicraft. Furniture is made from precious materials that are created by god. Therefore, we can never make first-class products if we don’t thank god for that gift.
“Gruk”, a bright and cheerful showroom
The “Gruk” showroom gets its name from a word coined by Danish artist Piet Hein, which combines the words from the phrase “‘Grin’ og ‘Suk’”, or “smiles and sighs”. Beginning with furniture produced by Kitani, it also offers vintage furniture repaired by Kitani as well as accessories that can be used in conjunction with furniture pieces.
The Finn Juhl House, where visitors can learn about comfortable Northern European cultural life
With the intention of introducing the culture of Northern Europe, which places great value on a comfortable lifestyle, to a wide range of people, Kitani launched a project to build a reproduction of the residence of Danish designer Finn Juhl, admired as a prominent furniture woodcarver, in Hida Takayama. The “Finn Juhl Art Museum Club” incorporated non-profit organization was established, and generous support was received from many sources including the Wilhelm Hansen Foundation, the Embassy of Denmark, and Tokai University. With permission for construction obtained from the Finn Juhl Foundation and with various informational materials provided by the Royal Ordrupgaard Museum, the House of Finn Juhl was completed in Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture on January 30, 2012, the 100th anniversary of Finn Juhl’s birth.[Overview of Facility Opening]
Dates: Closed from December to March for the winter season.
Please refer to the Finn Juhl Art Museum Club for the dates that the facility is open.
Times: 10:00 am to 12:00 noon, 13:00 to 15:00 pm
Admission fee: 3,000 yen per person (sponsorship funding), same-day only
» Finn Juhl Art Museum Club
| 2016/07/10 |
