Interview about Consentable MT Dining Table, winner of the A' Furniture Design Award 2023
This is the multi-purpose table with wiring functions. It has wiring grooves on all four legs and six drawers with wiring functions under the tabletop, allowing users to store OA taps in any of the drawers for beautiful wiring without cluttering the tabletop with electrical codes. The narrow gaps for wiring is provided at the front of all the drawers, allowing users to work with their PCs while connected and energized on the tabletop. This dining table is versatile for both eating and working, making it the family hangout.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsTraditional Japanese rooms,Washitsu embody a unique lifestyle and way of thinking that is characteristic of the Japanese people. For example, Washitsu do not have a fixed role and are typically used in different ways depending on the situation. Placing a “goshen” (a small table with four legs used as a tray for dishes) in a Washitsu turns it into a dining area, placing a ‘futon’ (a set of a mattress and a blanket used for sleeping) turns it into a bedroom, and arranging “zabuton” (cushions for sitting) turns it into a living room. Washitsu have almost no fixed functions, but precisely because of this, they can be used in any way. Additionally, Washitsu have a “closet” (a storage room) that typically stores futons and zabuton, but when needed, these items can be spread out in the room to fulfill its intended function.In Consentable MT, this concept is applied to the dining table. In other words, it is not limited to the single function of a dining table but can serve various purposes such as writing, PC work, charging smart-phones or family gatherings. By retrieving items like lunch mats, paper, pens, or a notebook PC from the drawers as needed, it can fulfill diverse roles. This allows family members to spend various types of time at this multi-purpose table as needed. Beyond mealtimes, it can serve as a study desk for children or a workstation for the father's PC tasks, fostering casual conversations and becoming a hub for family interaction.
As many people who use PCs or smartphones at home may have noticed, the digitalization of daily life has led to a tangled mess of cables around power outlets, often covered in dust and difficult to clean. This is inevitable, as we rely on cables for smartphones, laptops, external hard drives, digital cameras, CD players, and more. However, no fundamental solution to this cable clutter problem seemed available. Therefore, I decided to function the dining table as a cable hub and organize the cables. By connecting a single power strip cable from the power outlet, passing it through the cable grooves on the legs of it, and housing the power strip's outlets in the drawer under the tabletop, I made the dining table function as a power station for various digital devices.In terms of design, I prioritized the ability to store and retrieve each digital device while the wiring was connected, while also aiming for a refined appearance where the wiring was barely visible from the outside.
“Youbi” is a woodworking studio based in Okayama Prefecture, my hometown. Located in Nishi-awakura Village, a region renowned for its hinoki cypress production, the studio employs skilled young craftsmen who create furniture by hand, producing a wide range of high-quality wooden furniture. I have been captivated by the freshness of the wood and the forest-like aroma that emanate from the furniture crafted by “Youbi.”At the IFFT Tokyo 2015 exhibition, when I first met Mr. Oshima, the representative of “Youbi,” I asked him to take on the Consentable MT project, and he kindly agreed, which was the starting point for this project.Later, I visited the woodworking studio in Nishikura and was guided through the nearby forest. I learned that even after being cut, wood continues to breathe and absorb moisture, making it, in a sense, a living entity. I also learned that using hard metal nails on delicate wood could potentially reduce the long-term quality and performance of the wood. Through this experience, I came to understand that traditional Japanese techniques are the accumulation of profound wisdom from our ancestors, based on the premise of long-term use of wood and characterized by extreme rationality. In other words, it was not just about exceptional technical skill, but also the accumulated wisdom of handling wood, the primary material for Japanese houses, furniture, and tableware for hundreds of years, that constitutes traditional techniques, and this is the technology that “Youbi” values.
During the Consentable MT production process, when I visited the "Youbi" woodworking studio and the forest in Nishi-awakura, I learned about the challenges facing Japan's forests.In Japan's forests, it is common to see rows of coniferous trees such as cedar and cypress, but these conifers were planted about 50 years ago under government policy to meet the demand for wooden houses and other structures. Cedar and cypress require 40 to 50 years to grow into usable timber, so now is actually the time to utilize these mature conifers as timber. However, due to the sharp decline in wooden housing and the inability to compete with imported timber prices, the domestic forestry industry has declined. In such circumstances, many areas of coniferous forests have been left untouched, with trees growing densely and blocking sunlight from reaching the ground, thereby beginning to negatively impact the forest ecosystem.In this situation, it is important to use domestic cypress wood whenever possible, as this could create opportunities to revitalize the forestry industry.While Consentable MT can only make a small contribution, I hope that by sharing this information, the situation may improve to some extent.
Consentable MT is an application of the concept of Consentable WT, a PC-specific work desk developed in 2014, to a dining table. After developing a mock-up, we exhibited it at IFFT Tokyo 2015. While using high-quality domestic cypress wood significantly improved the quality, it also made the product very expensive. Since it was not a typical price point, I had given up on selling it. However, in 2022, someone who had taken an interest in Consentable’s activities approached me with the idea of scaling up the Consentable WT and placing an order, prompting us to reconsider productization. This became a crucial breakthrough, leading to our submission to the A’Design Award, where we won a Bronze award and received recognition. I am deeply grateful to the person who placed the order.
In today's digitalized society, communicating via digital tools such as social media and messaging apps has become a part of everyday life. The same is true for communicating with family members. In Japan (especially in urban areas such as Tokyo), busy lifestyles and individualism have become more prevalent, and it is not uncommon for family members to be unable to eat meals together. Thinking about it, meal times were once the only time when families would gather together regularly. However, when that time disappears, each person returns to their own room to continue working or chat with friends on social media or messaging apps, and before long, it becomes commonplace for families to have fewer opportunities to gather together. In such a situation, I wondered if a dining table could be designed to allow families to spend time together beyond meal times, thereby naturally creating opportunities for them to gather. In other words, if family members could continue their work on a laptop or charge their phones while checking social media at the dining table, they could spend a little time there, and casual conversations would naturally arise. To create such a table that serves as a hub for the family, I designed a multi-purpose table with wiring functions and device storage capabilities.Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
In Japanese living culture, there is a tradition called “ichirin-zashi”, where seasonal cut flowers are arranged in a small vase in a corner of the room to enjoy the changing seasons. This culture left a strong impression on the French philosopher Sartre when he visited Japan, and it is said that he felt a unique Japanese aesthetic sense in the custom of arranging cut flowers. The Consentable MT also features a “ichirin-zashi vase” in the center of the tabletop. This was designed with the intention of creating a space where family members can gather and communicate more easily by having a vase of flowers arranged by a family member. The unique “ichirin-zashi vase”, which seems to grow out of the tabletop, will add a charming touch to the family's daily life. That is my hope.
The wiring management system of Consentable MT is designed to blend with the traditional wooden table design. In traditional wooden tables, a structural material called “Arizan” is placed in the center of the tabletop in the longitudinal direction to prevent warping of the solid tabletop and fix it in place. In Consentable MT, the OA tap cables are routed through the leg wiring channels along the “Arizan” structure to the lower central part of the tabletop. The OA tap's power outlet is housed in the central drawer, allowing for flexible wiring to various seating areas. Additionally, each drawer features a slit-shaped opening approximately 5mm wide, allowing power cables to be easily routed onto the tabletop through this opening, for example, when charging a smartphone on the tabletop. In this way, we aimed for a simple design that retains the traditional form of furniture while incorporating wiring functionality in invisible areas.
I use Consentable MT at home, and I feel that my family now spends more time gathered around the table than before. While it is used for meals, each family member also uses Consentable MT for small PC tasks, mobile phone charging, or document work, making it a natural gathering spot in daily life and fostering casual conversations. For example, placing a dandelion flower picked nearby in the central vase can spark various conversations as everyone gathers around it. If I imagine the days when we had a regular dining table instead of Consentable MT, I think we would have avoided using the dining table for tasks like PC work that require wiring, and instead done them in individual rooms. Thinking about it that way, I really feel that Consentable MT is functioning as a natural hub for the family. I’m very satisfied with its role.
Traditional techniques are a treasure trove of human wisdom, and I believe they may hold various technologies and effects that modern people are unaware of. Therefore, I think it is a great pity to limit traditional techniques to traditional crafts alone. By actively incorporating them into modern functional products, we can better appreciate the wisdom of our ancestors and the power of natural materials. Through the act of actually using traditional techniques in new ideas and designs, I have come to realize that design concepts can expand significantly. I would like to continue exploring this further.
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