Making Maruni: everything you need to know about the furniture brand

Stepping into Maruni’s factory in the lush green hills outside Hiroshima, you are hit by one thing: the heady, intoxicating scent of wood. Wood is everything to this family firm of master craftsmen, who have been expertly turning the world’s most revered timbers into covetable furniture since 1928. Massive slices of majestic oak and walnut trees sourced from all over the world weather in the facility’s open-air storage, waiting to be transformed. Step into the production area and, despite noise from the cutting blades, there’s also a calm and controlled quality – that indefinable sense of zen.

‘Wood varies according to the season and other factors,’ company president Hiroshi Yamanaka says. ‘Even in the same environment, trees can have different characteristics. Making industrial products with such a variable material may seem like a contradiction, but I believe the appeal of wood lies in its ambiguity and unexpectedness.’

The company was founded by Hiroshi’s grandfather Takeo, who grew up on the woodworking island of Miyajima. His encounters with wood, from local forests to handmade items, led to an interest in the ways it could be transformed. After studying mechanical engineering, in 1928 he merged his knowledge of mass production and craftsmanship and established the Showa Mageki Kojo (Showa Bentwood Factory), which later became Maruni. The company’s guiding concept of ‘industrialised craftsmanship’ was born.

After 72 years of creating beloved pieces in a traditional Western style, on entering the new millennium, the firm faced an economic crash, cheap imports and dwindling sales. It decided to hone in on the core focus of the brand: what chairs are all about. ‘One must be conscious of the senses,’ says Yamanaka. ‘When you sit in a chair,there’s tactility, scent and sound. It should not only be comfortable, but also improve quality of life and enrich the space. I consider whether a chair’s appearance is in harmony with its surroundings, even when not in use; it must appeal to the eye.’

Working with architect and designer Masayuki Kurokawa, 2004 saw the creation of the ‘nextmaruni’ project, where 12 designers from across the world were tasked with coming up with chair designs ‘conceived as a message directed towards the Japanese aesthetic’.

Designers included Alberto Meda from Italy, Jasper Morrison from the UK and homegrown talent Naoto Fukasawa. While the move was bold for a heritage business, the contemporary-design scene sat up and took notice. Maruni entered a new phase.

Fukasawa’s next project for the brand saw the creation of his revered ‘Hiroshima’ series, which launched at Salone del Mobile in 2009. Featuring curves from the arms to the back, the armchair appears to be carved out of solid wood, yet is the result of technical engineering and craftsmanship, made from elements bonded together and finished by hand. ‘What this collection is aiming at is the realisation of a highly detailed and clean image,’ says Fukasawa, ‘while at the same retaining this sense of human warmth.’

A year later, Fukasawa took the role of art director and conceived ‘Maruni Collection’ as a separate brand of contemporary Japanese furniture. In 2011, he brought his longtime friend and collaborator Jasper Morrison on board and, just over a decade later, the line-up was completed with Danish designer Cecilie Manz, emphasising the affinity between Scandinavian and Japanese design.

Despite its if-you-know-you-know profile, ‘Maruni Collection’ garners plaudits the world over. In 2024, Fukasawa’s ‘Hiroshima’ series included a modular sofa and shelves, Manz launched a range of tables named ‘Shoto’ (archipelago in Japanese) and Morrison’s ‘Lightwood’ range added a sofa. In the UK, the series is available at Twentytwentyone, and next month sees it arrive at SCP. Founder Sheridan Coakley says: ‘The company works with the greatest designers of our time. To appreciate the beauty and simplicity of their designs, the quality of materials and production needs to be exceptional, and Maruni achieves this.’ maruni.com