June 28, 2018
Acquiring FSC® CoC Certification
Tokyo Mokkoujou Arts and Crafts Furnishings has acquired FSC® CoC (Forest Stewardship Council Chain-of-Custody) Certification, enabling it to produce products that are even more environmentally friendly. We will first use FSC® certified materials in Kinostyle products and furniture to commemorate completion of construction.
Confirming and Purchasing from Actual Certified Forests
At Tokyo Mokkoujou Arts and Crafts Furnishings, we not only purchase FSC®-certified lumber, our materials procurement specialists also travel to the certified forests they will purchase from and confirm the certified lumber. The results from actual confirmation and verification of the forest and lumber yard that will process the materials we will use led us to the decision to use solid wood from Tenryu cedar for our new product plan, entitled the Furniture Project to Commemorate Completion.
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, where Tenryu cedar grows, has been actively seeking FSC® International Forest Management Certification or Chain-of-Custody (CoC) certification. Several dozen companies have obtained certification and there is a mountain-to-consumer system in place to supply FSC®-certified lumber from Tenryu cedar. Tokyo Mokkoujou Arts and Crafts Furnishings is producing furniture with a spirit by using our woodworking techniques to craft furniture out of this lumber from solid Tenryu cedar wood.
Tenryu cedar forest
70 mm-thick superior solid cedar (®-certified) produced from the log of cedar trees that are at least 80 years old. Tokyo Mokkoujou Arts and Crafts Furnishings uses this to produce furniture to commemorate the completion of construction.
to commemorate the completion of construction: Chestnut colored
to commemorate completion
What is FSC®?
FSC® (the Forest Stewardship Council®) is an international non-governmental organization that created a forest certification system.
FSC® promotes environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable forest management.
FSC® certification does not rely on the protection of forests by not using the trees in them. Rather it protects the forests through the direct use of trees. Many consumers, environmental organizations, corporations, and other stakeholders support FSC® certification, and it is internationally renowned as the most reliable forest certification system in the world.
What is FSC® Certification?
FSC® certification applies to forest products and to the entire supply chain that handles products made from those forest products, from the forest to the consumer. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) offers the following two types of certification to certify the sustainability of products delivered to the market.
(1) Forest Management (FM) Certification
Investigates whether a forest is being managed responsibly and certifies those that are.
(2) Chain-of-Custody (CoC) Certification (for the processing and distribution process)
This certifies the processing and distribution process for certified lumber harvested from a certified forest, until it is in the hands of the customer.
Tenryu Cedar
Many cedar and cypress trees grow in the forests of Japan, but the cedars and cypress trees carefully grown in the historic Tenryu area are said to be of a higher quality than trees grown elsewhere.
The tree-planting techniques and depth of care that embody the ideas of Meizen* produce beautiful, perfectly straight trees with few knots. The pink color of the cedars, the whiteness of the cypresses, and the beautiful luster of the wood are characteristic of the Tenryu area. The wood from these trees is also valued for its strength. The wood is so fine that some woodworkers say that Tenryu timber has a viscosity that you can never forget once you run your plane across it.
* Kimpara Meizen (1832-1923), a businessman who contributed greatly to flood control projects on the Tenryu River. He is called the father of the Tenryu forestry industry.