Kazuhide Takahama Taka Sofa
A bench, a sofa, a bed, an architectural element, East and West, poetry
and function. Taka fuses these concepts, producing a piece of
furniture which is essentially free. The result is a versatile piece
consisting of three elements: a solid wood frame, curved birch wood
slats, and a mattress with a removable slipcover.
Created and produced
in 1957, the same year that Dino Gavina and Kazuhide Takahama met at
the XI Triennale di Milano, this multifunctional piece served to cement
a fruitful and lasting relationship that had begun that very year with
the Naeko sofa, the first outcome of this combination of creativity and
production that was to generate some of the most representative pieces
of Italian Furniture Design.
The Japanese background of the then young
Kazuhide Takahama and his architectural training within the context of
the Modern Movement, is identifiable in this piece through two evident
features: first, the wholly "essential" quality of his aesthetic
proposal, where any and all traces of ornamentation or frivolity are
stripped away in the final product, and, secondly, its
multifunctionality, an inherent feature of traditional Japanese
interiors, where rooms and objects are defined by the flexibility of
their use.
Created with no predefined function in mind, Taka can become
whatever one chooses or needs, adapting to the surroundings, one's
state of mind, the circumstances, or even the time of day (a day bed
for a quick nap, a comfortable bench for sipping tea or a discreet
place to sit and rest in a museum). The production process for this
piece of furniture was an innovative venture for Gavina in his quest to
overcome the prevailing rationalism of the times.
The piece conveys
beauty without determining a specific function, appearing several
decades before Western culture's fascination with austere Japanese
aesthetics, primarily after the rise of minimalism in the late 1980s.
Taka emerges as a symbol of sound design transcending time periods,
trends, fashions and borders.
- Solid birch wood structure
- Layered slats
in bended birch
- Upholstered mattress
- Mattress fabric 4m
- Roller fabric 1
m
Design:
Kazuhide Takahama
Year:
1957 (reedition 2004)
Manufacturer:
Santa & Cole
Kazuhide Takahama designs
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