Japanese culture and traditions get into our lives: we watch anime cartoons, eat sushi and use minimalist style in décor, which originally appeared in Japan. Today’s furniture collection that I’d like to tell you about is also influenced by Japan, to be precise, by Japanese bonsai gardens.
Claesson Koivisto Rune reflects Japanese gardens in bonsai seating collection for Arflex. The collection of upholstered lounge chairs shows minimal, curvaceous shapes that are reminiscent of bushes and shrubs and echo natural geometries found in gardens across Japan, where botanicals are cultivated and trimmed in order to create organic, cloud-like shapes. In stark contrast to these undulating silhouettes, rectilinear wooden platforms supported on low, wooden legs elevate these rounded, upholstered forms above the floor plane. Akin to ‘tokonoma’ — the practice of placing selected, cherished items, such as a bonsai trees, upon a horizontal surface in order to create an interior feature — these wooden platforms create a smaller, more dedicated frame within a larger interior context. Within this frame, other elements such as an integrated lamp with a flowing fabric shade and a recessed stone plate for arranging potted plants on, or simply a stack of books, can be added to the scheme.
There are several colors available, and they all remind us of nature: emerald and turquoise tell you of leaves of trees and plants in bonsai gardens, and deep blue reminds you of streams and ponds; chocolate brown base looks like tree bark, and the contrast is very eye-catchy. Such furniture will become a centerpiece in any room, it will bring harmony and comfort, just like bonsai gardens do.
