Storio

STORIO

Bent-wood objects · Ojiya, Niigata

Bent-wood technique begins with a contradiction: wood is rigid, and then, under heat and moisture and sustained force, it is not. The form it takes at that moment — a curve, a loop, an arch — it keeps permanently, without joints, without glue. The technique has existed in Japan for centuries, most visibly in the magewappa lunch boxes made by coopers in Akita. STORIO, based in Ojiya, Niigata, applies the same logic to objects designed for the contemporary desk and home.

Each piece is machined to 0.1 mm — a tolerance uncommon in woodworking — which allows the wood to be taken closer to its limits than most makers attempt. The result is objects that are thinner, lighter, and more flexible than most people expect from solid wood.

The beech used in STORIO's work comes from the heavy-snow mountains of Uonuma City — forests once managed for firewood, then left unmanaged as demand declined, until the trees grew heavy enough to cause landslides. STORIO joined a reforestation initiative with Niigata University and local furniture makers to restore these satoyama forests. Their objects are one outcome of that work.