Ever since establishing his own studio in 2006, designer and director Mikiya Kobayashi has placed great emphasis on material; namely, natural resources like wood. So it only made sense for Masterwal, a Japanese furniture manufacturer that has made a name for themselves by producing high quality furniture made from walnut wood, to team up with Kobayashi. Together, they recently unveiled YU, a new collection of elegant and minimalist furniture.
With an astute understanding of furniture and spatial design, Kobayashi connects Japan’s cultural legacy of natural elements with the new opportunities of our times. And that skill is clearly on display with his new collection for Masterwal, which includes chairs, tables, sofas and, surprisingly, a ping pong table. Using carefully selected wood sourced from Toyama prefecture, Kobayashi has gently crafted chairs with gorgeous curves and tables with clean straight lines.
The ping pong table is, in particular, a beautiful piece of craftsmanship with a solid brass line through the middle and a net made of leather. The net can be removed easily and the table used for other purposes as well. The ping pong table costs 702,000 yen (about $6200) while the chairs range from between 68,000 yen to 72,360 (between $600 – $650). Masterwal has showrooms across Japan if you would like to see the pieces in person.
In our shop we also sell a few small interior items designed by Mikiya Kobayashi.
