From Tokyo to Pontiac: Ayako Aratani on Design, Craft, and Nature
How do the ghost gardens of urban blight inspire inviting furniture? Japanese-born, Michigan-based designer Ayako Aratani reflects on relocating from Tokyo to Pontiac, the importance of handmade design, and how winkles can invite us to have less anxiety.
Jake Yuzna
How did you end up relocating from Japan to Pontiac, Michigan?
Ayako Aratani
About nine years ago, I decided to go to graduate school at Cranbrook Academy of Art and explore my furniture design practice further. Before that, I was working for a furniture company in Tokyo for about eight years as an industrial furniture designer. I wanted to change my design from a more industrial, computative way to something more hands-on, art and craft.
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Ayako Aratani. Photo by Tyler Moncrief. Image courtesy of the artist. -
Ayako Aratani. Photo by Tyler Moncrief. Image courtesy of the artist. -
Studio of Ayako Aratani. Photo by Attilio D'Agostino. Image courtesy of the artist. -
Ayako Aratani. Image courtesy of the artist.
JY
What kind of objects were you designing when you were working for the company in Tokyo?
AA
I was designing office chairs, school chairs, and school desks. Sometimes I would also design home furniture, but all of this work focused on contract furniture and used materials, like steel and plastic.
JY
What led you to become an industrial designer?
AA
When I was a high school student and we needed to decide what academic path to pursue in our studies at college or university, the cell phone was very popular in Japan. I thought it would be nice if I can design products like cell phones. Then, in my third year of studies, I started to be more curious about furniture, because I fell in love with Danish furniture. That decided my path as a designer.
JY
Japan has a reputation for celebrating and caring for craft practices. Do you think this is true and, if so, did that influence your work?
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Ayako Aratani. Photo by Attilio D'Agostino. Image courtesy of the artist. -
Ayako Aratani, 2023. Photo by Kameron Herndon. Courtesy Walker Art Center.
AA
In a way, that is a personal question. The reason I wanted to come to Cranbrook was thanks to one of my teachers in Tokyo. He went to Cranbrook and, toward the end of my job at the furniture company, I was really inspired by mid-century furniture. He said Cranbrook would be a good place to learn more about that history while being free to explore my own work.
At the time, I didn’t know that I would being making furniture by hand myself. At the initial interview with the head of the department, he asked me, “Are you ready to make furniture?” I didn’t know how I would do that, but I knew I needed to say yes, so I told him I was.
Now I feel I need to make furniture by hand. It is very important to me. Rather than just finishing design inside of a computer, I need to make things to express what I want to realize through furniture.
JY
Do you still make most of it by hand?
AA
Oh yes. I think my skills are in metalwork, brass brazing, and upholstery sewing.
JY
You mentioned being inspired by mid-century furniture. What about mid-century furniture was so exciting and compelling to you?
AA
At the time, my company’s work in Tokyo felt very functional. That is good, but the mid-century furniture in America was more iconic and artful. It makes people happy just through looking at them, so I was very impressed by that idea rather than furniture being just functional.
JY
With the work you’re making now, do you feel like you’re still drawing the same inspirations, or are there other things that are inspiring you or shaping how you’re approaching your work?
AA
It has changed. When I was at Cranbrook, I realized using my hands was very important, because my interest is in the handcrafted. That’s different from mid-century furniture design, which was more industrially produced at the time. Through my experience at Cranbrook, I started to believe making work by my own hand was very important for my studio practice.
JY
Is there a difference between design and craft?
AA
I recognize myself still as a designer. Craft is the techniques, and I like merging craft and design.
JY
You mentioned focusing your skills on metal working and sewing. Are there other techniques or approaches you’re focusing on now?
AA
With metalwork, I’ve been exploring brass brazing on steel and stainless steel. I like the color and the the joints brass brazing allows for, blackening steel and then leaving the brass gold as it is. You can see that in Ghost Garden. All the steel is black or darker brown, but the joints are gold. I like the combination.
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Ayako Aratani, Ghost Garden Shelf. Photo by Kaylee Dall. Courtesy of the artist. -
Ayako Aratani, Ghost Garden Shelf. Courtesy of the artist. -
Ayako Aratani, Ghost Garden Shelf. Courtesy of the artist.
For upholstery, I like leaving wrinkles. That’s my trend for my design practice. Rather than having the textiles be taught and tense, I wanted to have softness and wrinkles. People love pillows, and they are not perfect. That is the same reason I like handmade, because it is imperfect and makes us less nervous. Wrinkles invite us and say, “You are welcome here. I can cocoon and secure you inside in the quiet time.” That’s the design I like to create through the sewing.
JY
What was it like for you when you first came to Cranbrook and the Midwest? Had you visited the middle of this country before, or was it a culture shock?
AA
It wasn’t a culture shock, but at the time my English wasn’t very good. I was a little bit lonely, and I wanted to have some secured space. So that was the inspiration to make that chair. What you see now is the third version of that chair. I made two other versions when I was at Cranbrook, but it wasn’t until seven years later that I gained the skills of brass-brazing steel and sewing upholstery that let me finally achieve what I had in mind.
Today, I have friends and I love Detroit area. There are many resources, supply stores, or fabrication companies I work with that are very great.
JY
Are there aspects of the Midwest and Pontiac that inspire your work?
AA
I like Pontiac. It’s a quieter environment for my studio work. Detroit has so much diversity, compared to when I was in Japan, and this makes me feel free. I can be more honest to myself. I like the balance between the Motor City and then also the nature in Michigan.
JY
Looking at the forms and materials in your work, how does this relationship between the Motor City and nature inspire you?
AA
Nature is one of my big inspirations. Ghost Garden started when I was gardening and really wanted to express the power of nature. The tree or stem-looking support holds up the shelf from underneath. The nature language is extending through the whole, beyond the boundary of function, and then almost reaching out to the ceiling: that’s the power I wanted to express through this piece of furniture.
JY
You mentioned wanting people to feel comfortable and be invited by your works, like the Hideaway Chair. Was there anything in particular that led you to make that chair, or was it just playing with forms?
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Ayako Aratani, Hideaway Chair. Photo by Kaylee Dall. Image courtesy of the artist. -
Ayako Aratani, Hideaway Chair. Photo by Tyler Moncrief. Image courtesy of the artist. -
Ayako Aratani, Hideaway Chair. Photo by Tyler Moncrief. Image courtesy of the artist.
AA
When I made the first version of that chair, I had recently quit my company in Tokyo and came to Cranbrook. The office market had a trend of privacy chairs, and that was subconsciously working in my head. One day the idea “Maybe I want to adapt the concept of a privacy chair for home” popped into my head. Then during the Covid-19 pandemic, we were all spending much larger periods of time at home, and thoughts around comfort and softness began to influence the design.
JY
Do you think there is anything uniquely Midwestern that appears in your work by being based where you are?
AA
The local nature of Michigan is a big influence. My Roommate Lamp is also influenced by trees. Being from Japan, nature has always coexisted within the city. We have been living with nature, like people in Michigan, for centuries. I connect Japan and Michigan because in both places the cities are living with nature. That is an idea I try to bring into home furniture.
I became stronger after living in the Detroit area. I don’t have family in America, but here, in this area, I feel very powerful. People are powerful here. They have a history of making things by hand. I think we are proud of the maker’s spirit in the Detroit area, and that is also a big influence. It inspired me to say, “I’m going to make steel furniture,” and “I’m going to make this big furniture.” I want to keep working in the Detroit area.
JY
Could you tell me a little bit more about the Roommate Lamp? You mentioned that nature inspired it as well.
AA
Nature heals our body and soul, mentally, physically, emotionally. People like living with nature, having plants inside our homes. I thought the lamp could be like those plants, which is why the title is Roommate Lamp. The lamp is like another individual we share out home with.
JY
Are there any particular elements of nature coexisting in the city that inspire you?
AA
I like the smell after people mow the lawn. That is very nice. I like the fresh green smell whenever I drive—I smell the green. I also like looking at the trees in wintertime when there are no leaves on them. I like the beauty of bare wood.
My interest is how I can leave organic imperfection on design to look more comfortable. Sometimes, if the object looks too perfect, we might feel nervous or on edge. My preference is not a perfect, geometrical shape, but a more random, imperfect one. Like those you find in nature. I hope people can feel that pleasantness also in my own work.▪︎
Experience and shop for Aratani's work in Idea House 3, located within the Walker Art Center. Open during regular museum hours, by appointment, or anytime on shop.walkerart.org.
Want to learn more about Idea House and the designer's involved? Discover the rest of the series Houses of Ideas on the Walker Reader.
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