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Yuichiro Hori
Yuichiro Hori
STORYTELLING
STORYTELLING
factory, but the local conditions forced me
quite rapidly to set up my own premises
taking advantage of the lower production
costs and the easy access to local sup-
pliers. Finding young and experienced
craftspeople who were keen to work hard
was quite impossible and I had to find and
train my own staff in order to achieve the
level of quality I wanted. Today, by em-
ploying Japanese managers for quality
control and French technicians as a result
of a partnership with high-end furniture
maker Laval – which has a 40 per cent
share in the firm – allows me to achieve a
unique state of the art production facility.
In five years I have been able to establish
a Chinese factory with international stand-
ards in terms of technology, quality control
and working conditions. By observing how
factories are run in Japan, Europe and
North America, Stellar Works has been
able to develop fast with in-house com-
petencies combining prototyping and a
atelier, Stellar Works acquired the building
of a former bicycle company next door to
its Shanghai factory to be able to manu-
facture this cutting-edge collaborative
collection.
Each signature collection featured in
Stellar Works’s catalogue is a source of
added value for the company. It show-
cases the factory’s ability to fabricate and
hand-finish complex timber-framed seat-
ing, elegant and sophisticated bespoke
furniture designs ranging from benches
to tables, chairs and many more interior
design pieces. Each creation has a time-
less yet contemporary look. The Asian
aesthetic allows some twists in the con-
temporary collections which are reflecting
this dialogue between East and West.
You have a sharp knowledge and culti-
vate a deep interest for Southeast Asian
craftsmanship, as well as from Japan. This
is seen in your brand culture as well as
developments in the retail market. What
are the main collaborations you’ve been
developing these past five years?
YH: I have been developing some close
collaborations with Japanese craftsmen
– mainly from Kyoto – who are now united
within the Japan Handmade collective,
(for example a kimono textile with Hosoo,
bamboo weaving, lacquer, indigo dying,
metalwork such as copper and brass with
Kaikado). I am interested in combining
wood and metal to gold leaf. Travelling in
one hour to Japan from Shanghai where
we are located, I also have close connec-
tions in Arita, a city that just celebrated
four-hundred years as porcelain making
specialists. Thanks to this secular tradi-
tion, we developed a very contemporary
and coherent Arita Collection of objects
with Neri&Hu, which complement the in-
terior design of our range of furniture. In
May 2017, we introduced at ICFF in New
York, a natural indigo-dyed wooden fur-
niture with Crème Design that won an
award and, more recently, for the London
Design Festival in September 2017, we
had an installation at the Design Museum
of the iconic Ming Chair by Neri&Hu that
explored – thanks to the use of the in-
digo process – the cultural materiality in
manufacturing. The Ming Chair mines the
history of Chinese decorative arts to cre-
ate a crisp and contemporary furniture
piece that fits in our contemporary inte-
riors. Both collaborations were able to
happen thanks to our collaboration with
The Fabrick Lab, HK-Guizhou in China.
Fabrick Lab is developing textiles with high
end technologies and processes and ap-
plies them to furniture and other kinds of
materials. The two iterations of the indigo
Exchange Chair and Ming Chair are re-
vealing that this experimentation is key in
our business and can bring new innovative
directions to our modern manufacturing
system and our style, as well as bring in
much more artistry to create pieces which
are highly contemporary, while modern in
form, and steeped in tradition. I am aim-
ing to develop future projects which will
involve a series of Asian craftsmanship,
both from Japan and China. It is part of
our retail strategy to develop a range of
high end accessories, upholstery for our
furniture, and a cross cultural dialogue be-
tween regional craftsmanship intertwined
with the more global expansion of our de-
sign brand. Traditional craft techniques
can be therefore combined with modern
industrial processes to create this refined
Asian aesthetic and timeless design.
streamlined production process through
to the finishings. Knowing that the factory
only started with high-quality contract
work, launching my own furniture line,
Stellar Works, in 2013, was a natural step.
What have been the challenges and oppor-
tunities associated with becoming the first
global furniture design brand from Asia?
YH: In order to build up the brand Stellar
Works, I had to find a creative direc-
tion which can be both recognized at
local and international levels. By convinc-
ing Neri&Hu to collaborate in this new
venture in 2015 as Creative Directors,
Stellar Works has been able to move
from a brand manufacturer to build
up a design brand with a new range of
signature collections, combining the
production of a line of vintage chairs by
Danish architect Vilhelm Wohlert, and a
contemporary line that bridges the artistry
of traditional Chinese, Japanese, French
and Scandinavian carpentry. Nowadays,
Stellar Works can be distinctively iden-
tified thanks to its Asian aesthetic that
brings in diverse talents putting Asia in
vogue again.
Thanks to its brand recognition, the com-
pany has started to expand worldwide and
sells in 35 countries with a yearly revenue
that has reached US$ 20 million in 2016.
While the markets were outside Asia at
first – in North America and Europe –
Stellar Works has started to gain some
shares on its local market where cli-
ents are slowly becoming more aware of
original creations vs copies. Some of the
recent collections like the one with the
New York-based designer and architect
David Rockwell, has required some in-
novation on the part of Stellar Works—in
this case, we had to find a solution to fab-
ricate the bent metal frame of his Valet
Collection. In addition to its already pro-
ductive bentwood and wooden furniture
7.
8.
7 — Jens Risom, Chair
8 — Crème, Exchange Chair
© Taran Wilkhu
