Takahiro Yoshino & Yuri Kobayashi
September 21 – October 2
Explore the art of chairmaking by focusing on hand-sculpting a seat and backrest with traditional Japanese curved hand planes, which will then be fitted to a simple, four-leg frame. Renowned Japanese furniture makers, Tak and Yuri, teach students to use their self-made planes to communicate with the wood through sight, sound, and touch.
The class begins by making three compound-curve Japanese hand planes and one spoke shave. Through this practice, students gain a deeper understanding of how tool anatomy, ergonomics, and material influence shape, comfort, and aesthetic appeal. The workshop emphasizes care and awareness in working with wood using hand tools—building a strong connection between the maker, the tool, and the material through the principles and practices of Japanese craftsmanship.
Additional emphasis:
- Achieving a smooth, beautifully shaped, and hollowed surface without sanding.
- Perceiving calming and healing effects by shaping and communicating with wood using Japanese hand planes.
- Discovering the profound functionality of Japanese hand planes through hands-on preparation and customization.
- Exploring chair-making to help align the body based on the ideal posture for Zen meditation, as studied and designed by Takahiro Yoshino.
Takahiro Yoshino is a woodworker born in Tokyo, Japan, who has been creating work for 45 years. Since 2011, he has participated in the Hawaii Wood Show held in Hawaii, USA, and has expanded his activities overseas, giving presentations at the Hawaii Wood Show and the Furniture Society Conference. A large focus of his work is on custom fitted chairs that are tailored to the body, allowing one to sit in ideal posture. Three years ago, he founded the Mt. Fuji Woodworking Society in Fujikawaguchiko Town, Yamanashi Prefecture, to spread Japanese traditional woodworking skills and wood culture to woodworkers around the world. Tak’s website is tak-yoshino.jp.
Yuri Kobayashi is a furniture maker and sculptor based in Rockport, ME. Born in Japan, she earned a BA in architectural design at Musashino Art University in Tokyo and then a certificate in woodworking from Shinrin Takumi Juku in Takayama City. Yuri holds an MFA in furniture design from San Diego State University, where she studied under Wendy Murayama and taught at the Rhode Island School of Design for over a decade. In addition to teaching, Yuri exhibits nationally and has been awarded competitive residencies, grants, and fellowships, including Windgate Artist-in-Residencies at SUNY Purchase, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and Arizona State University Art Museum. For the last ten years, Yuri has been an instructor and studio fellow at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, where she continues to produce her work, from abstract sculpture to functional pieces of furniture. Her website is yurikobayashi.studio.
Open to woodworkers who have experience with hand tools, such as marking, sawing, hand planing, and hand-cut joinery.
