you're in fun today what's cash I
couldn't talk okay they're big you
already know what skyrocketed that I did
yeah not to go away Danny what I did
do you irrelevant to that machine
japan's northern island of Hokkaido is
known for its vast open natural spaces
mountains and forests and arguably no
area makes better use of all of this
than the city of Asahikawa in central
Hokkaido the area's home to some of
Japan's most legendary woodworking shops
furniture makers and designers craftsmen
from around the country moved to the
area for the sake of improving their
craft I want to show the story of this
beautiful live-edge walnut desk that was
made for me by one of these craftsmen
over the period of several months I had
the opportunity to visit Hokkaido
earlier this year for the Winter
Festival highly recommended by the way
if you ever get the chance in my travels
I had the good fortune to come in
contact with one of Asahi Kawas oldest
and most legendary furniture makers
called candy house they've been in
operation for 50 years despite living
and working in Japan for over a decade
I've never had a proper desk to sit and
work at and it felt like it was time to
change that in May the gentleman from
the beginning mr. Maya had came to look
at my space and we started planning out
the desk by June they found a slab of
walnut to match what I was looking for
and I headed up to us IG Kawa to start
documenting the process
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all right so I just arrived in Oz I
shower up in Hokkaido and I am on my way
to candy house right now to meet the the
maker a few Willy show can mean
something
pretty excited about it
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so candy house is right over here and
right across the road they have their
first-ever factory which is the one
where my desk is gonna be made so we're
gonna head over here the factory that
they have on this side everything's kind
of built in like an assembly line style
format whereas the one they have here
everything is made by hand by the Shogun
inor maker from start to finish one
person all the way through
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I'm about to get the first peek at the
piece of wood that's gonna be used for
my deaths we specifically worked out the
shape so you know let me just call that
I got that
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[Applause]
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[Applause]
the goal is to kind of have the desk
wrap around the edge like this and then
there's going to be a separate cabinet
off to the side here so as you can see
I'll probably be sitting somewhere
around here with this edge wrapping over
to the side and then the cabinet will be
somewhere over here
we started by talking about how I plan
on using the desk going a little deeper
into it's designed so that the craftsman
mr. Yamaguchi could get a real feel for
both the piece he was about to begin
working on and the person he was making
it for once it all came together
It was as if a switch had been flipped
inside of him and he started giving the
desk its shape
[Applause]
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the whole thing just happened so quickly
that I haven't really had time to
process it but that's that's step one
we're gonna have to come back for the
others sake no na thum na san jose
laguna ceja
this right here is basically one giant
log sliced into table or desk portions
when I had a chance to go and see the
wood mills that prepped and stored the
wood for the desk oddly beautiful by the
way
being Japan I was actually taken aback
by the size and scale of the yard itself
these yards tend to use sprinklers to
keep slugs moist in order to reduce
decay and stain and all of that but the
real magic and beauty were inside so
because the wood is so hard in order to
prep it they take some time and they
bathe each log
[Applause]
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getting to see the wood mills and how
the wood was prepped actually added a
lot to the experience for me there is a
certain layer of depth that was gained
from getting to see this part of the
process and before I knew it this trip
to Asahikawa had flown by and it was
time to head back to Tokyo for a while
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the work on the desk was just getting
started though in the month that I was
back in Tokyo mr. Yamaguchi began
prepping the main slab of the desk
securing cracks in the wood by in laying
butterflies or bowties candy house was
kind enough to document this process and
send it to me so that I stay in the loop
and see how things were coming along
after making any major change mr.
Yamaguchi would let this lab sit for
anywhere from a few days to a week to
see how the wood reacted to the change
before moving on to the next step before
I arrived back in Asahikawa he had
sealed up the cracks in the slab and
sanded the entire surface flat and then
I was on a plane heading back it is the
end of July right now and I have just
come back to Misawa
let's see how my desk is coming along
right in front of me by the time I had
arrived mr. Yamaguchi was already
started work on the desk for the day
his first goal is to clean up the live
edge of the desk basically getting rid
of rock or anything that would
compromise the eat longevity or overall
integrity of the desk itself during this
visit we'd get to know a lot more about
each other and he start to open up and
share quite a bit more about himself and
his process it's about I'm a junkie so
pull up a knife Hey
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it is the morning of day 2 and we are
heading off to the workshop I'm really
looking forward to today's part of the
process I think today we're doing the
legs mr. Yamaguchi had actually started
on the legs the day before the process
is very involved requiring repeated
measurements and checks every step of
the way
the jigs at Hugh's were custom-built for
the purpose of this desk as he does for
every single desk that he makes every
move is done with the greatest of care
and despite his calm demeanor he says
that he feels the pressure from start to
finish
suhara cardigan a magical pitch topped
off with the body
who you are not you know partial to
power Hey
so come much get in there you don't shut
that up more publisher blahblah for that
is it they feel it it all what sir
you look up the redundant kebab I'm not
joking are you dipping a toe in there
this level of care really showed through
and working on the light basis hours of
back-and-forth with only hairline
adjustments each time all in the name of
dedication to the perfection of the
piece at hand on our first meeting mr.
Yamaguchi told me that he actually moved
from just outside of Tokyo to asahikawa
for the sole purpose of working with
candy house and making furniture he's
one of the company's most experienced
Jokinen and truly seems to have a lot of
love for what he does when I asked him
what it is about the job that he loves
so much he told me that when he gets
into a project he falls into a flow
state where everything around him just
disappears and in that time he's free
from everything else he can simply do
what he loves doing we talked a lot as
he worked I was always worried about
distracting or bothering him and
although I wouldn't understand why until
later on he seemed genuinely interested
in learning more about me but you know
Nagato
[Music]
my stars also for cutting-edge - in the
potential for methylamine nacho
it's done over there
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the aims of systeminfo forest a forest
on this fresh start
some available
children
Wow
missamma good she just finished up this
piece here which is gonna be the shelf
that'll be mounted underneath the desk
this particular shelf is actually going
to house my shamisen both of width and
length were decided based on the size of
my shamisen case
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separate and that's abortion from it
it's kind of bittersweet
[Music]
[Applause]
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you
[Music]
[Applause]
are you hot enough you're gonna confirm
that assignee for you put a sniper but
gotta be downstairs in three minutes
because today they're putting the
finishing coat or the oil on the desk
and I'm almost late so behind me here is
mr. Saito and he's going to be boiling
the desk today putting on that the
finish coat to protect the death
[Music]
I will say about that I'm gonna miss the
smells of the wood in the workshop and
just everything in there's just
they say that smell is one of those
things that can trigger or build
memories there's a lot of stuff for me
to process but for now I guess we're
gonna head back to Tokyo I just swung by
the factory one last time to say bye to
Yamaguchi son before I head back to the
airport it's evening now we had a really
nice talk I I'm actually kind of gonna
miss him I have spent so much time
documenting his process
after one more coat of oil and a few
final touch-ups I was touched to find
out that mr. Yamaguchi himself
hand-packed the desk piece-by-piece in
preparation to have it sent to me in
Tokyo and as much as I would love to say
that time flew by as I waited for the
desk to arrive at such was not the case
but I think we all know what it's like
when you're looking forward to something
the desk itself arrived at 10:00 a.m. on
my birthday and to my surprise mr.
Yamaguchi had even included a small
handmade present along with it with a
note saying that the president's a
secret so I guess you know scrap that
part the desk did take a little while to
set up but once it was fully set up I
sat down to record a few scenes with it
but was I've a complete and utter loss
for words and that brings us to today
sitting here at what is probably the
last desk I will ever need in my entire
life having the opportunity to see it
built and get to document the process
definitely added a depth of appreciation
like I edited this entire video right
here at this desk my shamisen lived in
this desk it's already become such a
major part of my life and outside of
expressing a huge debt of gratitude to
both candy house and mr. Yamaguchi for
all of their hard work I just I have
nothing else to say
[Music]
look at all this green it turns out that
they actually plant over 4,000 trees a
year just to make all this sustainable