Zougei

Zougei is a brand dedicated to the creation of wooden art furniture. Sculptor Hiroyuki Nishimura founded it together with Yoshitaka Sato and Yuri Nakahashi. Most of wood used for their works are unable to use anything, These woods are unsuitable material for furniture, or architectural use, cannot help just being waste. They dares to take them for his works because of his policy.

I have been making sculptures with "zouki" (✴????1) woods in Shonan and Izu area for around 30 years. These zoukis are twisted, branched, or split. Otherwise they are cut down by land development, or felled down by typhoons and so on. Their fates are to be broken into small chips in waste disposal sites. I think seriously that discarding them isn't a good way, nor is splitting into firewood. I constantly consider doing something with them. Although natural trees are beautiful as they are, I can't be satisfied with it as a creator. I create my original form through refining their beautiful proportions. This is a creator's mission. Whenever I meet my finished work, I remember the wind blowing through copse or the birds flying around there.

Hiroyuki Nishimura - Founder of Zougei