Tada Mokko: A Woodcrafter’s Tale

21 Oct 2008 Category: Craftwork, Japan, Tradition

Tada Mokko: A Woodcrafter’s Tale

Tendo City in Yamagata Prefecture is known as a wooden furniture manufacturing town surrounded by a vast green forest — which supplies the wood for this local industry. Tada Mokko is a local furniture company with close ties to the community and, this time, we spoke to craftsmen Shigeo Itoh and got a first-hand account of one man’s experiences with traditional manufacturing and the art of bending wood.

Interviewed by Takafumi Suzuki
Translated by Claire Tanaka

“Spiral,” a wooden coat hanger including huge lamp.

The design diagram for the “Spiral,” a detail of the bent wood…


… and the finished product.

Looking around the workshop, the thing that surprised me the most was the spiral-shaped furniture. I really didn’t expect to see you making them with such primitive methods.

That’s the coat rack with built-in lighting called “Sprial.” We make each one by hand with a patented process. Each one is made from four pieces of natural oak which are 1.5cm thick and 2.5 meters long. The finished product is about two meters high.

So it really is possible to bend wood that way?!

The first time I saw the design, honestly, I thought “There’s no way I can make that shape.” But you know, we spent two months doing trial-and-error, working out how to apply pressure. In the end, we wound up with the method of steaming the oak, pressurising it so the fibres get soft, then wrapping it around a log. Thanks to the development of this technique, I think our product line is going to grow.

Seeing the pin-straight oak being bent is like watching a magic trick!

This is a product that was developed with Ken Okuyama for the Yamagata Carrozzeria project (JAPAN BRAND), isn’t that right?

Yes. Normally, after we get a drawing we have to make a computer generated 3D model and then construct a final blueprint. However, with Mr. Okuyama we don’t have to go through that complicated process. We just make a hand-carved prototype based on the designs he gives us. The designs that Ken Okuyama draws have such strong lines, it’s a task of gradually approximating that in a solid form. Then, we take the data from the physical model, and in the end our process ends up being the reverse of what we usually do.

I see. That’s also quite primitive, isn’t it?

Yes. We do it because we’ve got to respond quickly. Because we’re required to work quickly it makes for a tough haul, but despite that, the time it takes for things to take shape is quite short. That’s why in the end, this primitive style of doing things is actually quite efficient.

Each step in the process requires just the right touch.

But you’ve got to have a very deep understanding of the wood you’re working with, don’t you?

Well, in my case, I’ve been working at this company since I was very young. Back in those days, there were only ten-odd workers here. Everyone who worked here then has retired now. I learned everything I know about carpentry, all the techniques, on the job here.

Were you always interested in carpentry and making things with wood?

No, not particularly. But my grandfather was always one to do everything by himself. He’d dig a well and not just plaster it, but by drive in a metal pipe himself and everything. It wasn’t his official profession, but he’d dig wells for money. That blood is running in my veins. When I started out working here, it was interesting to me so I grew to like it.

Oak bent into a perfect spiral!

What part of being a woodcrafter is interesting to you?

More than anything, I think the challenge of how to use the material is the most interesting. With wooden furniture, the wood grain is everything. You start with choosing the lumber, thinking about what kind of wood grain will fit best with what you want to make. When you look at a big wooden table like you’ll see in a large meeting room, at first glance it looks like it’s made from a single slab of wood. But actually it’s several pieces connected together. In that sense, it’s very important to know well the character and grain of the wood. Young people these days need to work on learning more about that, I think.

What are your thoughts on passing down the tricks of the trade?

Hmmm. You know, more than anything that stuff has to be learned by watching. It doesn’t matter how many years you go to trade school, until you do it yourself with your own hands, you won’t learn how to do it. You may have heard this before, but we have a saying, “watch and steal.” It’s common sense, but it’s quickly becoming less so. “If you don’t teach me I can’t do it” is a complaint you hear more and more these days. (Laughs) I think the only way to get the hang of things is to have your own way of approaching things, your own sense of innovation. If you just passively receive information, it’s really hard to learn. But that’s just common sense.

In your case, how did you manage to learn the skills you have now?

I had a strong feeling of not wanting to be a loser. I wanted to do it faster and better than others. Little things like that made me happy. (Laughs) If people can’t find a sense of accomplishment in their work, they are bound to get bored with it. That’s why you don’t just work to put in your hours for the day, you do it to try and improve yourself. Try and set the bar a little higher and aim for it. Then you get a real sense of accomplishment when you get it right, doing that. (Laughs)

I see. It’s the most basic of basics, but something we tend to forget. That can apply to any kind of work, can’t it?

Yes, that’s true. Also, problems with communication are the same. This factory used to have design staff in the office and production staff in the factory, separated. But recently we’ve restructured things and now the design department is in the factory. It’s so the designers can see how their designs are actually put together. With traditional manufacturing processes, talking face to face is much more effective than sending information and data back and forth with e-mail. The best part is how we are able to share awareness about problems. That’s how it was in the old days, so in a way we are going back to the old methods.

Thin sheets of wood are stacked and pressed, becoming plywood…

… and this is what moulded plywood looks like.

Lastly, could you tell me a bit about the founder? What kind of person was he?

The founder of Tada Mokko was someone who went through a lot of difficulties. He went to Manchuria during the war and managed to survive by the skin of his teeth and came back to Japan and though “Well, now what shall I do to survive.” And he went and apprenticed at a place called Tendo Mokko for ten years. Then he established a little workshop in his family’s garden shed in 1956. (Laughs) Even after he became a business owner, he was a craftsman himself, so he was lonely. He came out onto the factory floor every day, saying “Don’t do it like that, do it like this.” That in itself was face-to-face communication. At first it was just 1650 square meters, and now it has become a 36,300 square meter factory. I think he really had a sense of the spirit of traditional manufacturing.

Tada Mokko Co. Ltd
Hitoichi-machi 4-2-3, Tendo City, Yamagata.

Shigeo Itoh
woodcrafter born in Tendo, Yamagata, in 1945.

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