BACKSTORIES by Tokuhiko Kise

Before I started TRUCK, I worked alone at my workshop for five years and made furniture that was sold at other stores. Around the time that I was creating a plain, country-style series for display at department stores using maple wood, I often made this kind of table with drawers. I made quite many, actually.

In 1997, I started TRUCK, and ever since then I was a little embarrassed by my previous work and distanced myself from it.

Then, more than eighteen years later, I felt like I wanted to make it again. Around the time that I was creating a plain, country-style series for display at department stores using maple wood, I often made this kind of table with drawers. I made quite many, actually.

In 1997, I started TRUCK, and ever since then I was a little embarrassed by my previous work and distanced myself from it.

Then, more than eighteen years later, I felt like I wanted to make it again.

If anyone drew a picture of an inconspicuous, unassuming type of table, it would, without a doubt, look something like this. On the tables I made before, the legs weren’t connected by a crossbeam, but the bar it has now kind of looks like one from afar.

Really, the details of this table are only a little… well, quite different from the original.

For instance, the tabletop thickness is 2mm thinner, and there are differences in the thickness of the legs, and the way you pull out the drawers and how they were made, and the handles too…

As I started taking pictures of it, I began to see and become fond of the special little parts about it. This kind of table would be great as an everyday piece of furniture. In fact, I think a table like this will always blend right into any room you place it in.

Tokuhiko Kise