Category: Nakaya Yoshitaka

Wood vessels by Nakaya Yoshitaka: The Legacy of a Tree

Wood Nakaya Yoshitaka

Woodwork by Nakaya Yoshitaka in our shop ->

Woodworker Nakaya Yoshitaka resides in the sprawling foothills of Mt. Fuji in Shizuoka prefecture. Much of the wood he uses is obtained locally, often from families that needed to fell trees on their properties for safety or other reasons.

These trees often have significant meaning for the homeowners because their ancestors may have planted them or they may have played on them when they were children. Nakaya-san feels that by making vessels out of this wood, he is ensuring that the legacy of these trees live on.

Chestnut plate by woodworker Nakaya Yoshitaka
Japanese oak bowl by Nakaya Yoshitaka

Nakaya-san’s wood vessels are shaped before the wood is completely dry and allowed to shrink and warp to provide their distinctive curves. The foot is created after the wood is thoroughly dried to make a leveled bottom. By creating vessels in this way, Nakaya-san thinks that he is letting the wood to speak, and decide the shape that it wants to be.

Wood Artist Nakaya Yoshitaka: Chronicling the Lives of Trees in His Work

Wood Nakaya Yoshitaka

Woodwork by Nakaya Yoshitaka in our shop ->

‘Organic’ and ‘precise’ are two words that usually do not go hand-in-hand, but they were the adjectives that immediately came to mind when I first saw the exquisite work of Japanese wood artist Nakaya Yoshitaka.

Footed square plates by Nakaya Yoshitaka

His footed square plates are examples of stunning construction and clean lines. The natural rings of the wood create a beautiful contour map and it does not take long to notice how much careful planning goes into his work.

Such meticulousness is not surprising from an engineer-turned artist. Nakaya-san started out studying mechanical engineering at the prestigious Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. “After graduating from university, I worked as a mechanical engineer drafting plans everyday. When I worked there, I had this vague but insistent feeling that this was not the career for me. I then remembered how I enjoyed building and making experimental machines at university, far more than executing the actual experiments.”

Wood artist Nakaya Yoshitaka working on a lathe at his studio.
Photo courtesy of Nakaya Yoshitaka

When Nakaya-san realized how much he enjoyed making things by hand, the daily routine of drafting plans at the office became unbearable. So the engineer left his drafting job 12 years ago and went to work for a furniture maker in Takayama.

View of Mt. Fuji from Nakaya Yoshitaka’s studio in Fujinomiya city

In 2009, Nakaya-san moved his young family to Fujinomiya city at the foot of Mt. Fuji and set up his own studio, which specializes in wood products. “I had no hesitation in choosing wood as my principal working material because I spent many happy hours in the mountains and rivers as a child” he says.

He thinks that the most difficult aspect about working with wood is that its shape can change depending on the environment. He cleverly uses his insightful perspectives on such nature of wood to his advantage.

Wild cherry bowls by Nakaya Yoshitaka

Take for instance the wild cherry bowls that Studio Kotokoto is offering. The bowls are shaped before the wood is dried and are left to warp as they dry naturally to form their unique shape. These bowls are then finished off through careful refining that is a signature of Nakaya-san’s work.

Nakaya-san has recently been focusing on using local trees that were toppled during typhoons or by silvicultural tree felling. “I hope to let the forests thrive even as I utilize the wood for my work”, he explains.

Nakaya-san carving texture onto the foot of a cherry bowl
Photo Courtesy of Nakaya Yoshitaka

This deep love for wood comes through in the prominence that Nakaya-san gives to the natural beauty of wood rings, which transforms his bowls, plates and other products into dazzling organic and utilitarian works of originality. His work is an inspiring tribute to the grace and splendor of trees.