02/12/2011

Takashi Tomii, Woodworker

Some great functional items by Japanese woodworker Takashi Tomii who was kind enough to send me these through email. I’ve had my eye on this designer for quite a while now and I’ve been a subscriber to his blog hoping one day I could collect enough imagery to share his story. Today seems like a good time, a nice subject to wind down to on a Friday.

All of these pieces are turned and hand tooled into shape in his workshop in Kyoto, Japan. Tomii is one of those creatives that has a real simplicity and functionality about his work, more so than any other woodworker that I’ve ever seen. Whether it be a chair, a tray, a bowl or a small pot all of these serve some sort of purpose and are elegantly flowing in their form, something that’s incredibly hard to achieve with wood as a material.

Tomii hand picks a lot of the wood that he uses, he seems to have a fondness for cherry wood and really cares for the composition and graining of each when he creates a form. For example he will try to oil the natural richness out of the wood so it will continue to darken with age, a piece that he hopes will get better with time and will transcend for centuries to come.

One thing that really interested me was his selection of trays which create an illusion of separation but actually the shallowness of the tray is hand carved and sanded from one piece of solid oak. The tool marks are left at the bottom to add friction for the cups and plates so they don’t slip, such an ingenious idea that really goes a long way in terms of usability. For more work from this terrific woodworker I would recommend checking out his website below where you can find pictures of his other items and his artist profile, you can also find a selection of his products being sold at Mjolk. I hope you all enjoy this wonderful selection of imagery.

www.konotami.zashiki.com