707.874.3361 info@kiarts.com

“Sakaguchi-san’s work is the most beautiful Japanese woodworking we have ever seen. We lived in Japan for two years and saw many examples of gorgeous woodworking, but none was more lovely than Sakaguchi-san’s unique and meticulous designs. He combines the painstaking skill of a master carpenter with the design sense of an artist. He chooses the perfect wood for each piece, using the grain and color of the wood itself as the only decoration. His work is subtle and sophisticated, relying on perfection of form and technique to bring ageless style to his designs.”

— Steve and Jonelle Patrick, San Francisco

Japanese Furniture

 

“I like the freedom in making furniture.
In doing traditional Japanese carpentry, one bows to ancestors,
but in creating furniture, I can play.”

Hiroshi Sakaguchi has applied his mastery of ancient joinery techniques to making Japanese furniture including the popular Japanese chests or tansu. After sizing carefully selected solid wood, he hand-cuts joinery with his traditional tools enabling the wood components to be fitted extremely precisely. Surfaces are hand-planed and finished with oils or hand-planed, sanded, and finished with natural lacquer. Sakaguchi-san works with North American hardwoods such as cherry, maple, walnut, pepperwood. He also has created furniture with the softer Port Orford white cedar, Alaskan yellow cedar, and Western red cedars. In addition to tansu (including the step tansu or hako kaidan), Ki Arts offers such Japanese furniture as tea tables (chabudai), tearoom brazier (hibachi), shoe cabinets (getabako). Most furniture is custom-made, but to learn about pre-made tansu for sale, go to tansu available for purchase. For information about custom design, ordering procedures, and pricing go to Process and Pricing. For further information, Contact Ki Arts.