Description
Ariake’s versatile Uma collection adds a storage piece with drawers, a closed cabinet, lidded bin and an optional tray for pocket items and accessories, functioning as both dresser and valet. Crafted in oak in naturalistic finishes or ash in dark colors, it hews to Neri & Hu’s multifunctional design for the bedroom range.
Specifications
Size
44.9" h x 53.3" w x 18.3" d (114x135.5x46.5cm)
Material
Oak, ash
Details
An optional hanging tray is available on request.
Brand
Ariake
Ariake translates as “daybreak” in Japanese and perfectly signals a new beginning for the union of 2 of that country’s well-established furniture companies, Legnatec and Hirata Chair. Drawing from Japanese and Scandinavian influences, the coalescing brand engages a roster of well-known international designers for its diverse collection, including Copenhagen-based mainstays Norm Architects and noted Swede Steffan Holm, along with Anderssen & Voll (Norway), Gabriel Tan (Singapore), Keiji Ashizawa (Japan), Shin Azumi (Japan) and Zoe Mowat (Canada).
First conceived when a group of the designers gathered for an intensive design workshop that took place in the small town of Morodomi in southern Japan, the expanded collection employs tactile natural materials and rich finishes. Superbly crafted furnishings are fashioned in oak, ash, hinoki and cedar woods; buttery leather; paper cord and fine upholstery fabrics; as well as unique Japanese-inflected finishes. Each piece is crafted in Morodomi, from Mowat’s Aiizome storage cabinet painted with sumi ink, red dye and two shades of Japanese indigo, to Ashizawa’s evocative plumply cushioned Raft platform sofa, to Anderssen & Voll’s sculpted-wood Blest side chair with its curved back reminiscent of a sail.
Designer
Neri&Hu
“We believe in architecture and design as a powerful cultural force,” observes Rosanna Hu, who founded her eponymous and much-acclaimed practice with partner Lyndon Neri in 2004. Though based in a bustling Shanghai neighborhood, the Neri&Hu Design and Research Office is known for a global portfolio that spans architecture, interior design, furniture, products and exhibition design. To wit, the multi-cultural team speak more than 30 languages.
Neri&Hu initiate both their own design projects for a number of brands as well as oversee the entire creative direction of luxury furniture maker Stellar Works, also based in Shanghai. At A+R, their lighting for Barcelona’s Paranchilna and for Dutch house Moooi is also represented. “We are still too young to have a distinct language,” notes Rosanna, “so we flow in many directions depending on the specificity of the project.”
Both Rosanna and Lyndon’s worldview stems from their educational and professional trajectories. “We are both born in different parts of the world than that of our grandparents, grew up learning multiple dialects and then went to school in the West,” says Lyndon, who received a Master of Architecture at Harvard University after his undergraduate days at UC Berkeley. Rosanna received her Master of Architecture and Urban Planning at Princeton University after also studying at UC Berkeley. The duo subsequently worked for a number of noted American firms including Michael Graves and Skidmore.
Their prolific studio has earned a host of awards, including Dezeen’s Architecture Studio of the Year for 2021, induction into U.S. Interior Design Hall of Fame in 2013, UK Wallpaper Designer of The Year and I. D. Magazine’s I.D. Forty, to name just a few.
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