The Ganpi Shi chairs were originally inspired by the idea of a young girl wearing a sweater. The handwoven paper cord made from Ganpi Shi, the king of Japanese paper (washi) are hand spun with precision then woven onto the carved chair body.

This handwoven work requires lots of patience as the cording becomes difficult to adjust due to it’s thinness. The final woven patterns are inspired from a mixture of traditional knitting and bamboo basket waving techniques.

Kanna is both the name for a type of woodworking and the planing tool at its heart. Avoiding power tools and sanding of any kind, Kanna is a patient and an intuitive process guided by the hand’s touch.

Tokunaga sees the tool as akin to a stethoscope that tells him the condition of the wood and how it will respond. His consciousness as a designer lives as much in his fingertips as in his mind. The process, which resembles sculpting, is a sustained act of attention that involves listening to the sound of the planer makes as it passes over the wood. No two wood blocks respond the same. The result is an immaculate finish that higher-tech methods can’t equal.