cord-chair - nendo x maruni

The cord-chair, a collaboration with Nendo, has legs only 15 mm in diameter. Rather than assembling wood panels around 9mm stainless steel frame, we decided to hollow out pieces of wood to clad each part of the frame. We were particularly interested in showing off the flawlessness of the wood material. Each of the chair's parts is carved from wood, left simple and undecorated to bring out the flawlessness of the material. Since each part is only 3 mm wide, the chair must be made by hand, rather than with mass-production machinery. Each chair is carved by artisans who took special care to align the wood grain. The cord-chair is not about the kind of 'mechanical beauty' that seeks the least common multiple in form and structure. Rather, with the cord-chair, nendo wanted to explore the relationship between materials like the metal wiring within an electrical cord and the rubber that encases it. Like reinforced concrete, the chair separates and highlights the role of each element. It liberates wood from structure, allowing the material's natural warmth and softness to come into sharp focus, and bringing out its greatest common denominator.

cord-chair
Hard maple and Stainless steel, Oil finish
W420 x D450 x H802 SH430 (mm)

The cord-chair is thinner than any wooden chair you might imagine.
We, Maruni Wood Industry Inc., have made wooden chairs since the firm was established in 1928. But when we took on this project and saw the design, no one was entirely sure how to make it. All we could do was feel our way.
We knew from looking at the design that the chair wouldn't be strong enough if it was made only of wood. But we were also curious what such a chair would be like. We wanted to see it, and thought we might learn something from the process. So we made the first prototype out of wood. The finished chair was even more beautiful and compelling than we had imagined.

The first prototype passed the design test with flying colours, but the problem of how to maintain minimum strength requirements remained. Adding a stainless steel frame would solve the problem, but that meant an additional problem: how to wrap the stainless steel frame in wood. Inside each cord-chair is a stainless steel frame that meets the minimum strength requirement. Our goal, however, was to create a chair that looks as though it is made only - and entirely - of wood. We started on the wood selection. We tested different woods with different metals, looked at wood grains and adhesives, and tested joining techniques. Through trial and error, we were able to work out each of these questions. We discovered that we could build the chairs from the bottom up: front legs first, then the seat, then the seat bottom from the rear, and only then the backrest.

The manufacturing process, which we might summarize as fitting and then wrapping wood parts around a stainless steel frame, uses hardly any machines. It is an extremely delicate hand-built process that requires high artisanal skills. The kind of fine details that appear in neither the calculations nor the drawings test our craftsmen's sensibility or kansei, as well as their skills. They use small blades, wood-sculpting knives and special planes to slowly, carefully carve the curved surface on which the legs meet the seat and the area where the backrest joins the rear legs. The chair owes everything to our craftsmen's sure skills and rich kansei.
The chair is made of hard maple. The material's hardness makes it the perfect material for the cord-chair. It goes without saying that we use planned harvested wood from a regenerated forest.

Each of the cord-chair's legs has a 9mm stainless steel frame wrapped in a 3mm wood core for a total thickness of 15mm, literally the thickness of an electrical cord. The stainless steel frame reveals itself in four places: the base of each legs, hidden from sight as they rest on the floor. When you lift up the chair, it's possible to see the stainless steel frame from the back. Why? We were able to wrap the frame in wood, but we wanted to give a glimpse of our craftsmen's skills. Leaving the base of each leg uncovered allowed us to do this, and to create a visual reference to the electrical cord, the origin of the chair's name. Thus, each cord-chair has a quiet message, too.