Monday May 13, 2013
With forever in mind
By LEONG SIOK HUI
star2@thestar.com.my
The cosy restaurant offers delicious set lunches and desserts and the chance to enjoy the classic Karimoku k chairs and sofas. IF you only have time to visit one interior shop in Kansai, let it be D&Department Project Osaka.
The unpretentious yet über cool retail store boasts a judicious line-up of Japan-made products ranging from kitchenware and linen to stationery and furniture.
More importantly, D&Department is akin to a living museum of Japan’s product design industry. Everyday products like soy sauce bottles, stainless steel kettles or sofas produced during the heyday of Japan’s design movement in the 1950s to the 1970s are sold here.
These seemingly ordinary products are works of some of Japan’s design greats like Sori Yanagi and Masahiro Mori. The late Yanagi is famous for his iconic Butterfly Stool (1956) that sits in the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Still in production, the stool is made by Tendo Mokko, a 73-year-old furniture manufacturer in Yamagata Prefecture.
Master of the understated, Yanagi was also known for his elegant kitchenware fashioned from stainless steel including kettles, pots, utensils and cutlery. Handcrafted in Niigata – famous for its steel production – these products reflect Japan’s fixation with an attention to detail, painstaking craftsmanship, and functionality.
D&Department was founded in Tokyo in 2000 and opened an Osaka branch two years later; today, the company has seven retail stores in six prefectures. Thanks to founder Kenmei Nagaoka’s vision, the company trailblazed Japan’s boom of recycling, reissuing and restoring design classics.
An ardent champion of Japanese design and regional crafts, Nagaoka sniffs out underrated design classics and works with established companies like Tendo, Karimoku and Maruni furniture manufacturers, and Hakusan Porcelain to re-produce the classics and introduce them to a new audience.
But the company also selects new products in the market based on criteria that includes knowing the maker, re-saleability of the product, and continuity (whether the manufacturers will continue making the product in the long run).
D&Department plugs “long-life design”, so it handpicks quality products with timeless designs to retail. It also offers a buy back policy so its products can be repaired and recycled to ensure longevity.
“Our customers not only buy the products and support the makers and craftsmen but they can sense the spirit of the makers in the products,” says Yuko Konoto, D&Department’s public relations manager.
As with all D&Department stores, the Osaka branch is located in an older – 40 years old – refurbished building in a lesser-known neighbourhood.
“Having shops in out-of-the-way places means customers have a purpose in visiting us and are interested in our activities,” explains Konoto. D&Department stores hold regular workshops and talks on topics related to contemporary design, craft heritage and sustainable living.
The first-floor retail space is given over to everyday objects. Row after row of metal racks are neatly lined with glasses, bowls, utensils, pots and pans.
In one corner sits the Nippon Vision gallery where traditional craft products and local cottage industries in Japan are promoted.
The Osaka Select section highlights locally made products with a long history. Take the konbu (dried kelp) produced by Konbu Doi, a century-old family business; the company is credited with keeping Osaka’s traditional dashi (soup stock) culture alive. Konbu Doi’s products are only sold at its own Osaka shop and through D&Department.
Used and new furniture are displayed on the second floor. Reissued chairs, like the highly popular Karimoku k, lend the space a retro look. Designed by Karimoku’s in-house designer in 1962, the reissued model best exemplifies Japanese mid-century modernism.
To savour the comfort of the Karimoku k sofa, head to the cosy cafe on the third floor. The simple lunch sets priced from ¥950 (RM28) – curry rice with salads or sandwiches with salads – are good value for money.
On a personal note: I have been a fan of D&Department Tokyo since 2009 and I never fail to make a stop at the store during my yearly sojourn to Tokyo. Suffice it to say, my kitchen is stocked with products from D&Department: from the lightweight thongs by Yanagi to a soy sauce bottle by Mori to wooden cups by Hokkaido-based woodcraftsman Kougei Takahashi. Functional, unpretentious and affordable, with a designer’s touch – what else could one ask for?
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