Small Japanese furniture maker seats diplomats comfortably

Asahi Sofu delivers 260 chairs to U.N. headquarters

Asahi Sofu uses computer aided design and manufacturing, a technology common in carmaking, to recreate Finn Juhl’s graceful furniture designs.

MINORU MASUBUCHI, Nikkei staff writer

May 14, 2022 15:22 JST

YAMAGATA, Japan -- A small woodworking company in a quiet town in northern Japan has pulled off a diplomatic coup of sorts, delivering 260 designer chairs to the New York headquarters of the United Nations.

Asahi Sofu is located in Asahi, Yamagata, a town of about 7,000 people without so much as a railway connection. The company made the chairs under contract from Danish furniture maker Onecollection.