Description

In 1928, the furniture research group Katari Kobo was formed, centering around Kurata Chikatada, a lecturer at the Tokyo Higher Technical School, and was later joined by students Toyoguchi Katsuhei and Kenmochi Isamu.
Their goal was to mass-produce functional and well-formed furniture that suited Japanese homes at low cost. To that end, they measured the average household budget and storage capacity of homes at the time, as well as the physical builds of Japanese people, and reflected the collected data in their designs. Their rational designs based on functionalism show their awareness of the German design school, the Bauhaus.
The Armchair has a tatami mat, which is designed to accommodate chair-style living in Japanese homes. This work is a prototype before it was distributed, but it is an important work that represents the philosophy of Katari Kobo. Oak, which was not yet common at the time, was used as the material, perhaps to reduce costs and mass production, and the influence of Kohiji Joichi, a professor of wood crafts at the Tokyo Higher Technical School who had been researching oak, can be seen.