You’ve made furniture to sit astride.

I hope everyone experiences a ‘sense of sitting astride’ through my furniture. I mean you can do that action in your daily life.

When I first met the chair from the Queen Anne period, that one could sit astride and put a book on the back of a chair to read, I decided to make this type of chair. However, people in Europe were rather conservative about this idea. When I went to Spain to show my furniture at an exhibition, they didn’t understand the idea at all even after I explained it to them. But once they actually sit astride on the chair, they said things like ‘wonderful!’ and understood what I meant.

I think this idea was a great discovery and ‘chairs to sit astride’ could be one of the forms of future furniture. Actually it’s not good for eating and drinking, but it’s good for a meeting in the office.

You’ve also made furniture on casters.

Yes, it’s because I believe it’s convenient. The younger generation who are making furniture have also adopted the idea of casters. This means today many people want casters for their furniture and it’s the common taste for people who have just started making furniture. Moving while sitting on it. This is one of the demands of the times, though it’s pretty lazy.

You’ve had exhibitions at galleries as well. Do you think objects you create are a kind of art?

I don’t think so. I’m no more than a creator of furniture. I think my furniture is not entirely satisfactory if it’s called art. When I make a chair, I only think of sitting on it and I don’t think much of its looking. Though I think of colors of cloth because I use fake-furs for the cover, but essentially, people enjoy the texture of fur, not the sight.

So they are of practical use?

Yes. When I design a shelf, I always attach importance to store A4 papers. I think it’s meaningless if a shelf is only 1 centimeter short to store A4 papers perfectly even if the form is cute. I don’t mean that I don’t care of its looking from design perspective, but I rather would like people who buy my furniture to use them and feel the good quality of them.

What do you think about furniture in the future ? What kind of furniture do you think will be needed/created in the future?

With the development of technology, all sorts of things have been miniaturized. I think everything would be miniaturized more and more than you expect in the future and there would be no larger objects than you in your small room. What we need ultimately are something to shelter ourselves from the rain and wind, and something to support our bodies, so all of these functions would be incidental to them. With this idea, television and lighting would be fit into the wall, and if a man could live floating in the air, sofas and chairs would be needless anymore. Then what should creators of furniture do? Make a device to make a person float or to fit lighting into the wall would be their job. The idea of furniture itself would be changing in the future.

Do you have any plans for the near future?

I’ve made the Agra catalogues every year and this year, I have a plan to make the Agra postcard book to showcase the Agra furniture with pictures. I hope everyone imagines ‘a lifestyle with Agra’ by seeing those small pictures. The postcard book will include some of my new works, so if you’re interested in it, please try to find it.
Apart from that, I’ll keep my eyes on the near future and continue my research and development to live a more comfortable life.

FURNITURE DESIGN AGRA
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