Tendo by Innomatnet Project

Case Study

Tendo Mokko A case study of best practice in the integration of materials technology and design to improve innovation

Tendo Mokko is an innovative plywood furniture maker based in Tendo, Yamagata, Japan. The company has flourished despite an unusually remote location, making full use of design and technology expertise to find inventive ways of manufacturing with an unpredictable raw material. The story of Tendo Mokkoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s early development has been researched by Royal College of Art historian of design and manufacturing Sarah Teasley for this InnoMatNet case study.

Consortium 1

Best practice in materials and design

Sarah Teasley is an historian of design and manufacturing at the Royal College of Art in London, who grew up around the sights and “I was halfway up a mountain, talking

smells of her grandfathers’ wood and

with designers and engineers about

automotive workshops. She defines

plywood furniture manufacturing in Japan

her role as ‘history for practice’ –

in the 1950s and ‘60s, while eating wild

making observations, connections

mushroom stew in northern Japan. I was

and comparisons in order to explore

there because Tendo Mokko is a brilliant

issues such as:

company for thinking about technology,

• How do manufacturers and

materials and all the different constraints and propellers for innovation.” Dr Sarah Teasley

designers adapt to changing conditions, processes, materials and technologies? • How do these shape the built environment and daily life? • How can lessons from the past make today’s design and manufacturing better? In Teasley’s view, the history of plywood furniture is particularly apt for these questions as it involves both machinery and material innovation, technology transfer, sustainability, funding and the role of design.

Best practice in materials and design

Sarah Teasleyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s research looks at Japanese furniture manufacturer Tendo Mokko, rather than the more obvious Nordic countries, because in the postwar period Japanese firms created innovative plywood furniture in a competitive yet collaborative environment, drawing on local skills and materials and participating

Origins & drivers for innovation

in international networks.

Tendo Mokko was founded in 1940 by a group of eleven ornamental carpenters who, faced with a wartime decline in house building, decided it would be more efficient to bid for government contracts if they worked together. Manufacturers, craftsmen and design

They shared a fundamental curiosity

researchers began talking with each

about how wood works, how it can

other, spending time at each otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

be manipulated and what its specific

institutes and companies, all inspired by

properties can offer the maker.

a fascination with plywood materials, as well the business opportunity.

The group spent the war years making wooden boxes for munitions, and were

Sarah Teasley believes that Japan is

commissioned to develop mock aircraft

a very useful comparison for Britain,

to divert American bombers. Despite

Germany and other EU countries as it

their traditional background, they

also industrialised in the 19th century, so

became interested in advanced overseas

contrasts can be made about successes,

manufacturing techniques, e.g. those used

failures and the factors involved.

in production of British Mosquito aircraft.

Best practice in materials and design

Role of business entrepreneur The group soon realised that they

They started by recruiting a business

needed business acumen as well as

entrepreneur with strong networking

technical excellence to grow the market

skills who established new marketing

for their products. They also had to

outlets through Tokyo department stores.

overcome their isolated location in mountainous Northern Japan, an area locals jokingly referred to as ‘the Tibet of Japan’.

The entrepreneur and Tendo Mokko’s technical lead saw the need to modernise the company’s manufacturing processes and contacted the government-backed Industrial Arts Research Institute (IARI), a specialist in plywood design and technology located over the mountains.

By 1945 they had gained considerable manufacturing experience, built up stocks of wood and fuel, and were very quickly able to make the transition into a post-war economy. They began the new era making folding dining tables and other furniture for people living in very small, temporary accommodation during the re-building of Japan.

Best practice in materials and design

Role of local Research Institute The Research Institute’s role was to

The former carpenters therefore became

research how traditional local industries

keen attendees at Research Institute

and materials could be updated for

lectures and reciprocated by inviting their

contemporary markets. Many of the staff

technicians, engineers and designers – as

were trained in furniture and product

well as overseas experts – to visit the

design, others had a hands-on training in

Tendo Mokko factory.

materials R&D. They introduced a strong

Institute staff researched plywood glues,

design and technical understanding which complemented the craft expertise at Tendo Mokko.

bending and steaming processes, and with their help, Tendo Mokko gradually built a complete plywood production

Tendo Mokko had the advantage of

system. By buying freshly-felled logs then

having access to plentiful, untouched

drying and processing them in-house

local supplies of wood to manufacture

they could maximise quality control and

plywood furniture. However, this

oversee the entire operation from raw

Japanese form of beech wood was more

material to finished product.

subject to warping and inconsistencies than European beech – understanding its physical composition, behaviour and processing techniques was a riddle that had confounded previous generations.

Best practice in materials and design

Pioneers of plywood manufacturing By setting out to build a local and international knowledge network, embed entrepreneurship, and develop a deep technical understanding of how to work with plywood, Tendo Mokko were set to become one of the pioneers of plywood furniture in Japan. They began to focus on manufacturing contract furniture, having foreseen that as part of Japan’s physical reconstruction and democratisation many new civic buildings would be built. In another astute move, their leaders persuaded Inui Saburo, a senior plywood researcher at the Research Institute, to become their head of technology in 1959. He became integral to the development of specialist plywood presses, seeking information from Danish experts and working closely with Japanese press makers on specifications and training initiatives.

Value of outputdriven tendering By the 1960s, 90% of Tendo Mokko’s

innovative and experimental.Their

market was contract rather than

remote location was another important

domestic furniture. According to

innovation driver – they felt they had

Sugasawa Mitsumasa, an integral

to “come up with something different”

member of the design team, this

and were fortunate in having the nearby

stability and the government tendering

Research Institute to provide technical

process gave them scope to be more

and design support/inspiration.

Best practice in materials and design

Design experimentation

Global design network

They made the business decision to

We tend to think of globalisation as

partner with Japan’s leading avant-

recent. But in the early twentieth century,

garde architects – also involved in the

European and American designers

contract market – making it easier to

were travelling to Japan, and Japanese

experiment with plywood’s possibilities

designers to the West. In the 1930s, the

and developing a unique market niche

architect Bruno Taut was learning and

for Tendo Mokko’s creativity.

building personal networks in Japan.

Alongside fast-track innovation, they

As Tendo Mokko evolved towards making

also took a long-term view of research

cosmopolitan sculptural furniture during

and development. In many cases they

the 1950s, they wisely tapped into these

would be given a design that couldn’t

high-end, international expert networks

be made at the time, but with in-house

which had begun re-forming after the war.

engineered technical advances in plywood presses, it might then put it into production 20 years later.

Through the Research Institute’s design head, Tendo Mokko began to collaborate with outstanding creatives from Tokyo, including Tange Kenzo (soon to be at Harvard) and ex-Le Corbusier architect Sakakura Junzo. They later sent one of their promising young designers to the Danish Furniture Research Institute, with a remit of learning new skills, networking and bringing fresh knowledge back to the factory.

Best practice in materials and design

Design for export markets During the 1950s the Japanese

Tendo Mokko today – vision and longevity

government strongly encouraged

While Sarah Teasley’s research mainly

companies to seek export markets. Eventually, this resulted in the opening of a joint showroom office in San Francisco, featuring high-end ‘flagship’ designs. But before that, they made sure to show the most stunning pieces at the Milan Triennale – and as a result had work in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York by 1958.

focuses on the formative years of Tendo Mokko between 1945 and 1965, she has recently brought their story up to date, as part of exploring how Japanese industrialists and others are continuing to innovate today. The past 20 years in Japan have been haunted by economic stagnation, driven by outsourcing to China, a quickly ageing population and a difficult financial climate, and worsened by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Best practice in materials and design

In the absence of bold, sustained action

Partly because other, more standard

They have maintained a long-term vision,

from central and regional government,

measures have already been tried, the

despite the economic climate being more

there is an emerging sense among

approach is becoming more experimental.

challenging than 20 years ago, and appear

companies and community groups that they need to reinvent Japanese business and cultural life. They are starting on a

In Tendo Mokko’s case, they have begun exploring social innovation and co-design

to benefit from considerable goodwill among current and former employees.

around products that have a long life –

As a company, a hierarchical structure is

very explicitly involving everyone in the

inevitable, but a sense of collaborative

company in the design and production

work is present among all parts of the

and channel this interest into active,

of new pieces, and creating product

design and manufacturing process.

dynamic attempts to reinvigorate

narratives that involve the end user.

small scale, asking: • How can they capture imaginations

communities?

One of the challenges Tendo Mokko

Several of the eleven founders’ children

currently face is the need to operate

• How can they spark local and regional

and grandchildren are involved in

within a weakened industrial ecosystem

excitement about the future, and a

running the company today, and

and supply chain. As an example, their

sense that ordinary people and SMEs

while many of their competitors are

favourite plywood presses were built by

can have a positive impact, too?

no longer in business, Tendo Mokko

Japanese manufacturers in the 1950s

have remained unusually successful

and 1960s, but many manufacturers have

at understanding the market while

folded, so replacement parts must be

remaining true to their core design

hand sculpted or cast.

• What does company-led social and environmental sustainability look like, for local and regional SMEs? • Can local and regional SMEs with a deep history of community contribution find fresh energy by revisiting what worked in the past?

vision, materials and product quality.

Despite this, Tendo Mokko still

They remain Japan’s premier plywood

experiment with press technologies,

furniture manufacturer in terms of

and with the forms that they’re able

technique and quality, keeping prices fairly

to make, building on the deep tacit

high and diversifying astutely, e.g. into

understanding of the technical limits

veneers for the luxury automobile sector.

and possibilities of plywood that underpins this innovative company.

Best practice in materials and design

Lessons from Tendo Mokko Build knowledge • Seek out expertise and don’t be shy about it. • Voraciously consider bringing in new technology, but also take advantage of the older skills and methods that you might have in your work force. • Acknowledge your strengths and acknowledge the strengths of others. • Be aware of resources around you – in Tendo Mokko’s case an abundant supply of wood and the expertise of the research institute. • Be mindful of the importance of access to researchers and research

• Encourage long-term thinking on the part of government / business research funders. Bluesky research has value in bringing ideas and connections to industry collaborations. “It’s nerve wracking, but there is an economic impact”.

Look ahead • Look ahead and think about markets that haven’t yet emerged, making what your company and people are good at your selling point. • Diversify, but diversify strategically so that your core image is clear.

Experiment

Maintain internal culture

• Maintain curiosity about materials

• Pay strong attention to corporate

and the processes – encourage a

culture, employee culture and worker

culture of experimentation and

satisfaction – especially if you are in

questioning around materials and

the manufacturing sector and founded

business opportunities.

on craft skills as well as automation.

• Don’t be afraid to bring in young

• Maintain trust, even in times

designers and engineers with wild or

of uncertainty – allowing for

unconventional ideas, or to support

experimentation, giving people

their development.

the room to play over the long term,

Collaborate

and recognising that you may be

• Cultivate and maintain connections

even if you’re not technically able

with other interesting people in different fields, local and international.

institutes – whether at universities,

Think about how you might be able to

further education colleges, companies

collaborate with them.

able to capitalise on that later on, to do so immediately.

in complementary industries or regional research institutes.

Best practice in materials and design

diSclaimer

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This report forms part of the

We are grateful to the following individuals and organisations for their contribution to the InnoMatNet case studies: Sarah Teasley, Royal College of Art Tendo Mokko

deliverables from the InnoMatNet project which has received funding from the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement n° 290583. The report reflects only the author’s views and the European Commission is not liable for any use that might be made of the content of this publication. The project runs from the 1 April 2012 to 30 September 2014. It involves eleven partners and is coordinated by Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação (SPI). More information on the project can be found at www.innomatnet.eu The lead contractor for the case studies was InnoMatNet consortium partner the Institute of Materials, Minerals

Case study suggestions taken from the InnoMatNet survey. Reviewed by: Claire Claessen and John Conti-Ramsden, Chemistry Innovation KTN John Bound, The Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (MaDE, Materials KTN) Research & editing: John Bound, The Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (MaDE, Materials KTN) Graphic design: Lara Collins, The Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining

and Mining, with delivery through the Materials and Design Exchange (MaDE), a group within the UK Materials Knowledge Transfer Network. www.iom3.org.uk www.materialsktn.net/made © InnoMatNet 2013

Dr. Sarah Teasley’s research on Tendo Mokko was funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).

Best practice in materials and design

Contact Tendo Co Ltd 1-3-10 Midaregawa Tendo City, Yamagata T + 81 23 653 3121 info@tendo-mokko.co.jp www.tendo-mokko.co.jp

Dr Sarah Teasley Reader in Design History and Theory School of Humanities Royal College of Art Kensington Gore London, SW7 2EU sarah.teasley@rca.ac.uk T +44 (0) 20 7590 4444 www.rca.ac.uk twitter.com/sarah_teasley