Edo Style Furniture
When considering furniture for your home or office, you want to focus on a particular style. Edo style furniture is a take it or leave it taste and here is a guide.
Edo Style Furniture
Edo style furniture gets its name from a period of classical Japanese culture that flourished in the area of Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan, between 1500 and 1780 AD. Kyoto was a beautiful city with cherry tree lined avenues, and a highly developed appreciation of the arts. The area surrounding Kyoto was heavily wooded, and carpentry was a highly respected craft. Thousands of carpenters from the area were used to build the wooden castles and palaces of the country’s rulers, and they also made furniture that was typical of the art of the area and time.
Edo style furniture is characterized by understatement, simplicity, and restrained elegance. It is very much influenced by Zen and the harmony of nature. Many of the pieces are crafted from fine mahogany and beech. The beech tree makes up the majority of the workable wood in the Kyoto area, and is used frequently in traditional pieces.
After the isolated culture of Japan came into contact with Western Culture, some of the western ideas and styles began to find their way into the Edo style furniture pieces. It was a remarkable melding of the two cultures. The older pieces tended to have little curvature in their design, but due to the western influence this began to creep into the designs. The basic English chest of drawers that was little known in Japan became a popular piece and a favorite of the Edo style furniture craftsmen.
After World War II, the Western World really discovered Edo style furniture. It was noticed first by servicemen in the Occupation Forces, who often brought pieces back home with them. In the industrial rebuilding of Japan following the war, many of the original craftsman who had been producing the classical furniture pieces one at a time in their little shops, were replaced by modern factories. The beauty and the elegance of the Edo furniture style were retained in most cases, and the secrets of the craft were transferred to the new designers.
In the West, Edo style furniture is often used as a room theme. Bedrooms are especially popular. The bedroom was always considered the most important room in Japanese culture, and still plays a more important role in modern Japanese home design than is usual in the West. The result is that Edo beds and bedroom furniture represent some of the most popular and finely crafted examples of the Edo style. Edo pieces do not necessarily have to constitute the entire theme of a room, but rather they blend nicely with other styles of furniture. If you are looking for something subtle, elegant and unique, Edo style furniture may just be the answer.