Sculptural Chair Abstract Tribal Style Wild Nature Glamping

Hiroyuki Nishimura uses reclaimed wood and scavenged materials to produce outwardly sculptural, provocative furniture and decor. Harvesting felled and abandoned trees from the Shonan and Izu Peninsula areas of Japan, Nishimura chooses to work in the medium that speaks to him.

While much of the wood Nishimura reclaims is largely deemed unsuitable for conventional furniture or for any other building projects, his proficiency with sculpture proves otherwise, with the artist-designer bringing new life to the material and creating interesting bookcases, side tables and magazine racks through hand-carving techniques and the occasional use of a chainsaw. Nishimura works with the shape of any given fallen tree — he rarely works against the natural form of his chosen material — and creates works that hold a primal appeal and often resemble ancient totemic artifacts.

Born in Osaka, Japan, Nishimura attended the Tokyo University of the Arts in 1986. After graduating, he began working as a prep school teacher, while also pursuing his love of art through sculpting wood. In 2008, Nishimura opened his own studio Zougei Inc.

Nishimura has won several awards and performed many solo exhibitions throughout his career. His numerous accolades include the Silver Award at the 8th Kajima Sculpture Competition in 2004 and the Grand Prize Award at the 10th Oita Asian Sculpture Exhibition in 2010. His many exhibitions include solo shows at the Sekiguchi Art Museum in Tokyo and the GEM Art Gallery of Tokyo. 

On 1stDibs, find Hiroyuki Nishimura tables, storage pieces and decorative objects.

Chairs are an indispensable component of your home and office. Can you imagine your life without the vintage, new or antique chairs you love?

With the exception of rocking chairs, the majority of the seating in our homes today — Windsor chairs, chaise longues, wingback chairs — originated in either England or France. Art Nouveau chairs, the style of which also originated in those regions, embraced the inherent magnificence of the natural world with decorative flourishes and refined designs that blended both curved and geometric contour lines. While craftsmanship and styles have evolved in the past century, chairs have had a singular significance in our lives, no matter what your favorite chair looks like.

“The chair is the piece of furniture that is closest to human beings,” said Hans Wegner. The revered Danish cabinetmaker and furniture designer was prolific, having designed nearly 500 chairs over the course of his lifetime. His beloved designs include the Wishbone chair, the wingback Papa Bear chair and many more.

Other designers of Scandinavian modernist chairs introduced new dynamics to this staple with sculptural flowing lines, curvaceous shapes and efficient functionality. The Paimio armchair, Swan chair and Panton chair are vintage works of Finnish and Danish seating that left an indelible mark on the history of good furniture design.

“What works good is better than what looks good, because what works good lasts,” said Ray Eames. 

Visionary polymaths Ray and Charles Eames experimented with bent plywood and fiberglass with the goal of producing affordable furniture for a mass market. Like other celebrated mid-century modern furniture designers of elegant low-profile furnishings — among them Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Finn Juhl — the Eameses considered ergonomic support, durability and cost, all of which should be top of mind when shopping for the perfect chair. The mid-century years yielded many popular chairs.

The Eameses introduced numerous icons for manufacturer Herman Miller, such as the Eames lounge chair and ottoman, molded plywood dining chairs the DCM and DCW (which can be artfully mismatched around your dining table) and a wealth of other treasured pieces for the home and office. 

A good chair anchors us to a place and can become an object of timeless appeal. Take a seat and browse the rich variety of vintage, new and antique chairs on 1stDibs today.