We jointly developed a tanned soft leather with leather manufacturers. Many trial productions and
experiments were repeated to make a thick leather with proper softness and texture. The leather
was manually placed on the sofa by experienced artisans.
One of leather production sites in Japan is located in Tatsuno District, Himeji City in Hyogo
Prefecture. Himeji is a major production site of tanned leather in Japan. All of the leather we use is
our unique product, which was jointly developed with leather manufacturers. We had previously
mainly developed thinner leather for a better fit to the sofa shape. However, for the new sofa
development, we tried to develop a strong and thick leather that delicately expresses its texture,
that has proper softness to the touch, and that is rarely made even in Europe, the center of leather
production. The leather with surface skin has its original texture, and it gains glossiness and
sophistication as it is used over the years. A long-lasting sofa is materialized, of which the appeal of
the leather increases after years of use. The overall design was determined after careful selection of
various manufacturing methods and pieces. Such decisions included an examination of the wooden
frame structure of the sofa for maintaining strength, adjustments of softness/hardness of urethane
in each area for comfort, and usage of feathers in the back.
The hardest part was putting the leather on the sofa at the end. Well-experienced craftsmen’s skills
are essential when putting the thick and inflexible leather on, which was impossible without the
passion of the leather producers and skill of the artisans. The beautiful stiches also show this highlevel
skill. The seat has a thin design, in contrast to the thick wooden frame with a great presence.
We intended to avoid losing overall lightness due to the thick leather, as well as to try out a new
structure. A comfortable sofa with a resilient cushioning property was successfully made, despite
the thin seat. Furthermore, the wooden legs and the frame, which support the sofa body, are finely
and elaborately decorated. A relief called tamabuchi was carved on the wood, in order to connect
the designs of the four legs and the seat frame. A soft atmosphere is formed by gradual curves on
the insides of the legs. With an appreciation for the sofa consisting of natural materials – leather,
feathers, and wooden legs – it was named Waltz for Nature.