Born in Kitayama area in Kyoto, Kitayama cedar has a special texture. With distinguished skills and techniques, the branches are pruned every 3-4 years for 30 years taken with diligent care not to have any damages and marks on the wood in order to get the rich and smooth touch. Moreover, with shibori technique, which gives pressure to the wood by wrapping it around with metal instruments, it creates an interesting and bumpy pattern on the surface of the wood.
Kitayama cedar is traditionally used in Japanese style column tokobashira, in the bedrooms but due to the westernization of Japanese homes the demand for Kitayama cedar is on decline.
COS KYOTO collaborated with Kitayama cedar to find a way to make use of the beautiful texture and patterns of this wood, and it is now starting to be used as home decors and furniture across borders.
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Although it has been taking care of for 30-40 years to grow Kitayama cedar, there are parts of wood that cannot be used for the tokobashira (columns placed in Japanese style bedrooms) which had been one of the main and traditional usages of this material. On the other hand, people are using this material recently for other furniture.
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