OSAMU NAKATA
kitayama cedar
FORESTER
"I have always loved staring out onto the cedar forest landscape since I was a boy. In the winter, the forest would be snow-capped with the trees often dancing as the wind whipped up. In my family, we raise our cedars like they're our children. The trees are like my daughters.”
This is how Osamu Nakata speaks of the forest. He is the fourth generation to care for it. Despite attempts to distance himself through the teachings of cooking and law, he eventually returned to cater to his greatest pleasure in life.
This forest is truly unique, the world over. Nestled atop the mountains to the north of Kyoto, it is home to a tree species that exists nowhere else: Kitayama cedar. Sloping the mountains, Kitayama shoot straight upwards. As they grow for 20 to 30 years, the Nakagen workshop prunes all their branches to produce a knot-free trunk. The real treasure, however, lies hidden beneath its bark: its naturally bumpy texture, carved by nature.
"MY FATHER AND GRANDFATHER WOULD
BE ASTOUNDED BY THE
NEW APPLICATIONS OF KITAYAMA CEDAR."
Osamu nakata
After they are debarked and hand-sanded, the trunks are commonly used as decorative poles for traditional Japanese constructions. Kitayama cedar is found in Japanese tea houses and ryokans.
Its declining use in modern constructions led Osamu Nakata to seek additional uses for his trees. Under the forest's spell and transfixed by the beauty of its texture, Garnier & Linker designed a furniture collection which underscores the unique materiality of Kitayama cedar.
