Examples of work from the Hypio workshop. Click on the images for a larger view.
The Japanese word for trunk is tansu. The Japanese word for stairs is kaidan. Thus the kaidan tansu is a trunk, or -group of stacked trunks, that is also the stairway found in a traditional Japanese Country estate. These kaldan tansu are a powerful visual element in the architecture of the home, which is otherwise sparsely furnished with small wooden pieces, Such as arm rests, small tables, or a kimono stand.
Tile Kaidan tansu of Japan are powerful in scale, often 6' x 8', as well as aesthetically and spatially stimulating. They relay a sense of moverment-the descending sizes of boxes stacked to form a stairway-but are strong and grounded. They represent a style of furniture/architecture in which the form so simply and economically follows the function that it remindsme of the frugal use of space I experienced while living on a boat in Sausalito, California.
These tansu, which afford access to the upper floor of a home, can also be seen metaphorically, like the ladders of the American Southwest, ascending, to a higher spirit plane. The big difference is that In a Japanese rural village a kaidan tansu was a clear status symbol, allowIng one to "rise above" the village. The use of wood was a privilege reserved for the wealthy, and the higher you were in the caste system, the more wood you could use in the structure of your home.
Much of the history and study of Japanese architecture focuses onthe grand estates, the rare castle, and the first shrines, yet the Study of tile home-and furnishings of these homes-gives a closer insight into the life and the people. The tansu is one of the elements that sheds light on the connection between the individual, society, and nature in Japanese culture.
One's furnishings are a product of physical, intellectual and emotional relationships, which are constant yet changing. They are intimate and significant: the shelter and storage that symbolize a society's path. In Japanese society the closeness of this relationship is revealed in the language; which is a word for house or shelter, and also refers to the self. Similarly, the word for wife, kanai, also means Inner roorns.
When my husband Bob and I lived in Japan in 1989 and 1990, we were able to search out several kaidan tansu that were a rough and sturdy imitation of furniture found in the emperors' palaces. We were inspired. We design and build our kaidans keeping in mind that feeling of the old and the rustic. The Visual weight of the larger beams, together with the throughtenon joinery, are for us the key elements in conveying this feeling. We have translated this style into our work only to find out that we work in the standard sizes of traditional Japanese milling. We also use the old finishing technique of rubbing on and hand-buffing layers of oil. We have found no other finishing technique that gives this sense of aged wood.
Originally they were designed for stor
age of the tokanoma scrolls, tea canisters,
or the sumi ink and stone-now we are
challenged with concealing the television
and VCR system, the electronic components
of a stereo and all of their accessories
into a custom kaidan. One of the most
challenging aspects in designing the kaidan
is to satisfy both the functional require
ments for storage and the aesthetic desire
for grace and beauty of expression. The
goat is to arrive at a design that we both
feel is at rest; a piece that can be moved by
two people, that is proportionally comfortable, that represents our style and concern for quality. As long one or the other of us is not pleased with the design, it stays on the drawing board until we come up with the visual balance and harmony we're striving for.
We created Our first kaidan-Inspired tansu in 1991. It was to replace the stand-up piano in our client's dining room. The finished one-step tansu certainly felt Asian, but didn't differ that much in shape from tile form of that stand-up piano.
As our furniture designs evolved to recapture that original inspiration, our vision has become clearer. In the latest tansu-Go En Kaidan-the front plane of the piece has been broken by insetting a small step, thus reworking the idea of the stairway that call be ascended even in a kimono! The TV and stereo that need to be contained are concealed by the grided doors, but we have eliminated the modern use of pocket door hardware by using the traditional tracking system of tansu. The doors stay within the front plane of the tansu and do not open into the room's space, a very "Japanese" consideration.
This change also makes the tansu more user-friendly: no special instructions on pocket door openings required.
Another important revision is the addition of three open spaces with the tansu. These shelf spaces are referred to as tana, and are considered sacred space. We lined each of these areas with beveled slats to Suggest "the old." (As I have read in zen texts, the new is not to be honored as the old.) This area becomes a visual rest and focus. It is dark and quiet, awaiting a small vase with a single flower, in the zen tradition of meditation on the simple. Thc central tana includes a set of shelves, which we call "mist shelves" because of the symbolic way in which they, suggest the mist that is often seen in Japanese sumi-e paintings. The mist in these paintings represents the atmosphere, or the spirit-a belief of the ancient Shinto religion.
The additions on the end of each shelf are slightly different from each other, a detail that invokes another aspect of this tradition: The mist itself is never the same twice. These design alterations also allow the kaidan to have more visual movement in the overall form, making it more engaging as a stair, and less overwhelming than a wall of bulky cedar boxes.
Cedar is a sacred wood in Japan and is often used in the construction of shrines and temples. It is a slow growth softwood with a distinctive grain and knot pattern, consistent with our rustic, "aged" aesthetic. The variety we work with-Alaskan yellow cedar-responds beautifully to the organic dyes and Danish oil w, use to harden the finish and protect the fUrni tUre. After applying the dye, we hand-rub and buff 5-7 coats of Danish oil into the wood, followed by one coat of Danish Oil/Urethane, also hand-rubbed, to create a water-resistant Surface. As with all furni ture, these tansu do not like direct sun light. When the tansu are ready to ship, I apply an Asian root essence, traditionally used in temple incense, to add another ele ment of the aged and sacred to the piece.
The kaidan tansu is a three-part piece
of furniture. Each piece can be carried by
two people, in keeping with the tansu of
early Japan. This had an extremely
important and practical Purpose in those
times: in case of fire, the tansu could be
readily removed from the building. And
for this same reason) the darmna tansu
the tansu-on-wheels-evolved. It is said
that when there was a fire in the town,
the sound of thunder came from the
wheels of the merchants moving, their
prized possessions. Times have changed,
needs are different, but the modular
nature of the kaidan tansu) as well as
many of the other elements of its tradi
tional design, make it all infinite), adapt
able furniture form for modern living.
Jeanne Hyypio and her husband Bob are partners in Hyypio Design and Furniture, in Lower Lake, California.
Hyypio Tansu are hand crafted and one of a kind. Prices vary depending on the details you envision for your furniture. For a more accurtate price send a sketch or the dimensions and we will give you a quote.
Go to the Hyypio Tansu Web Site
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