London Craft Week 2020 - Japanese Joinery
30th September 2020
To celebrate London Craft Week, we’ve asked Thomas Kingaby, our in-house Cabinet Maker and all-round craftsman, about his love of Japanese joinery.
“I have always been a fan of architecture, joinery and purposeful design. Japanese joinery seems to be a unification of these disciplines, presenting it’s self as an art form, a way of uniting materials seamlessly and delicately, whilst maintaining strength, form and functionality. I am most inspired by the seemingly endless variety of joints and how these were derived from necessity, as opposed to aesthetics or vanity. Furthermore, Japanese tool design has furthered my interest in this discipline, whether it is the saw working on the pull or backstroke to aid accuracy, or a traditional plane that must be drawn towards oneself. I'm currently reading The Art of Japanese Joinery by Kiyoshi Seike, and a favourite quote that has resonated me is 'The tool has presented itself as an extension of the crafter, another limb that aids in precision and becoming a master of one's craft'.”
[Images from Ishitani Furniture's website, a favourite of Tom's: https://tecori.com/index.html]
