Cocoda Chair

Founded in 2003 by master woodcrafter Shigeki Matsuoka, KOMA is a Tokyo-based atelier and a team of fifteen artisans devoted to perfecting their respective mastery of the Japanese time-honored woodcraft techniques. Together, they bridge their collective artistry of form, material, and gesture with a contemporary design language, creating thoughtful and soulful pieces.

Matsuoka, born in Tokyo in 1977, began his lifelong devotion to furniture-making with monastic discipline, unwaveringly sketching and crafting as many as three prototypes a week. This early, single-focus rhythm instilled in him the conviction that beauty in design is never imposed but rather revealed—through gestures guided by the material, through touch, and through an attunement to the living nature of wood.

Matsuoka-san was named one of the youngest Contemporary Master Craftsman by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, a testament to the virtuosity and devotion that underpin his practice. His work arises not from personal introspection or stylistic pursuit, but from a deep inquiry into the materiality of wood, the notion of comfort, proportion, and the silent elegance of functional form.

At KOMA's workshop on the outskirts of Tokyo, Matsuoka-san and his team preserve the integrity of handcraft through an exacting, tactile process. Working almost exclusively with North American black walnut and cherry—woods chosen for their warmth, strength, and expressive grain—the team goes through the process of seasoning each plank for months before carving begins. Traditional tools such as kanna (planes) and kiri (chisels) guide the hand in shaping soft, seamless curves that are impossible to achieve through machine work. A single chair may take three months to complete.

Each piece emerges as a singular expression of its material—at once precise and organic, quiet and resolute. Though prototypes serve as reference, no two works are identical; the wood dictates its final form, and the hand listens. The result is furniture that transcends function—imbued with soul, stillness, and a sense of enduring companionship.

KOMA's ethos resists haste. It honors the slow unfolding of form, the silent dialogue between maker and material, and the creation of objects that serve not only the body, but the spirit of a life lived with intention.

Matsuoka-san's work has received numerous international awards, including the Red Dot, A'Design, and DNA Paris Design Awards. It is displayed at Koma's showroom in Tokyo, Japan and Ateliers Courbet gallery in New York.