FUTABA CONVERTIBLE FURNITURE
by Jill Fehrenbacher
In Japanese, the word “Futaba” means two leaves sprouting from one seed. That sounds like a less violent version of the expression “killing two birds with one stone.” I love the way that just one word in Japanese sums up the whole thought of multi-functionalism in a much more elegant, refined way than the horrible English bird-killing idiom. Futaba is the perfect word to describe Akemi Tanaka’s beautiful, ecofriendly, convertible furniture.
Designed for people who live in small apartments and who like to entertain, Futaba is meant to be used as a coffee table on an everyday basis. When guests come over and additional seating is required, the furniture converts from table into a love seat.
If this sounds like a great idea to you, just wait - it gets better. Futaba was also designed to minimize environmental impact. The wood is all Plyboo, (which we’ve praised before for its ecofriendliess), and the finish is Danish Oil (both from Bettencourt Green Building Supplies). The fabric is from Carnegie, a company committed to sustainability.
Akemi Tanaka is an Industrial Design grad student at Pratt. Futaba is her final furniture studio project.
(The designer, Akemi Tanaka, sits on the left.)
Thanks Akemi!
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Like your style. I would like to purchase some of your furniture. How do I go about doing this?