Tokyo-based design studio SOTANAKA looked beyond the chopped tree branches to create a furniture collection named Uneri, showcased at the 2026 3daysofdesign. The collection puts otherwise overlooked branches in the spotlight and creates furniture pieces that look like a collage of quirky branch shapes.
Uneri is an experimental furniture collection that uses urban salvage, saving wood from city parks and sidewalks that would have been thrown away. The designer Soichiro Tanaka collects pruned street branches and fallen timber across Tokyo to use as raw building materials.
By rescuing this forgotten wood, he gives a second life to nature that grew inside a concrete city. This approach turns urban waste into valuable furniture without cutting down virgin forests.
Using material collage as the core of the designs, instead of cutting wood into smooth boards, this technique mixes irregular shapes. Tanaka leaves the branches in their natural form and binds different pieces into a single structure.
The unique bumps, twists, and rough textures of each branch remain completely visible. This creates a beautiful contrast where chaotic and disconnected parts combine to form a stable piece of furniture.
The word Uneri is Japanese for an undulating, surging wave, which represents the flowing look of the furniture. Tanaka uses a special, self-developed joining system to arrange the twisted branches so they look alive. The final structures appear unstable and kinetic, as if they are actively moving, twisting, or about to speak. This reanimates dead wood by giving the stationary objects a strong sense of energy and rhythm.
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The collection celebrates raw, natural beauty by highlighting the organic imperfections of the branches. There are no straight lines or manufactured shapes, making every single stool and chair unique.
The rough textures and fluid lines give the furniture a sculptural presence in any room. It blends ancient Japanese appreciation for nature with a bold, modern artistic style. Finished with enamel paint, the collection toes the boundary of natural and artificial.
