IFUJI'S OVALBOX
OVAL BOX is a general term for an oval-shaped box made by bending thin plate.
IFUJI's OVAL BOX was created by the Shakers in the United States.
This is a reproduction of a "SHAKER BOX", which was produced from the 18th to 20th centuries.
What is SHAKERS?
The Shakers are a Christian sect that began in the United States, also known as the Society of Advent Believers. They began during the Revolutionary War era, and at their peak in the 1840s, about 6,000 people lived in 19 communities, but then declined. They were characterized by celibacy and communal living, and earned income by selling handicrafts and agricultural products. Their furniture and wooden products such as oval boxes are highly regarded worldwide for their high design quality, and they have also influenced Scandinavian furniture.
Ifuji first learned about Shaker boxes in the early 1980s.
When Ito read the article in his favorite magazine at the time, he had no idea that this simple wooden box would go on to have such profound meaning in his life.
After studying Japanese and African cultures at university, Ifuji worked for a company before deciding to become a woodworker, and after more than a decade he was "reunited" with Shakers. His apprentice at the workshop where he worked, his master, Yasuo Nagata, made Shaker-style furniture.
After he became independent and opened his own studio, Ifuji started making furniture influenced by Shakers and at the same time started researching how to make oval boxes. At the time, there were almost no examples of oval boxes being made in Japan, so he ordered books from overseas and started gathering information on the Internet. It was during this time that he met John Wilson, a woodworker from the United States.
John Wilson has an unusual career history, having taught anthropology at Michigan State University before becoming a woodworker. While searching for materials for a seminar assignment in the library, he learned about Shaker oval boxes, became interested in them, and began to research their history. and production techniques. Since the techniques for making oval boxes had already been lost in the United States at that time, John decided to restore them after extensive research into documents, museum collections, and religious organizations. He quit his job at the university and dedicated the rest of his life to researching oval boxes. He published the results of his research in magazines and held workshops across the United States, becoming a great contributor to the revival of oval boxes in modern times.
After exchanging letters and phone calls with John, IFUJI produced his first oval box in 2005. If he had never met John, IFUJI's oval boxes might not have been what they are today. John was particular about reproducing the original Shaker pattern, and established a technique for making most of the processes in the same way as in the past. IFUJI has made its own improvements to the method he learned from John, but it basically follows the Shaker technique. Even now, we continue to use some of the patterns we obtained from John (the same as the original Shaker).
John Wilson sadly passed away in the spring of 1941. The tradition of the OVAL BOX, which John dedicated his life to restoring, is carried on in IFUJI's BOXes