Tansu Tall boys

This is a pair of amazing tall boys/chests of drawers commissioned by, and designed in partnership with the designers at Christian Bense.

We took Edo (1603–1867) & Meiji (1868–1912) era Tansu chests as our reference and departure point.

These utilitarian merchants chests were used extensively throughout society in the home and by travelling merchants to carry and store anything from foods, to Kimono to swords. Sometimes on wheels, but more often with iron carry handles protruding from end brackets.

Made to order by the tansuya (tansu craftsmen), they were a fascinating reflection of their owner's socio economic status, with their level of decoration reflecting that.

Always simple and functional in form, they were made in arrow straight defect free local timber, for maximum strength, then adorned with decorative but practical ironwork.

For our contemporary versions we replaced the nailed joinery and elaborate ironwork, with hand cut dovetails throughout the carcasses (96 in all!), used homegrown quartersawn ash and cedar of lebannon. Then adorned them with genuine Meiji period antique drawer pulls from a specialist antique dealer in the US. Finally fabricating some subtle decorative brackets on the sides of the chests - all made and patinated in house to quietly reflect the history underpinning these chests.

L 1100mm
H 1400mm
D 470mm

Please contact us for pricing information.