nextmaruni Project is an activity synthesizing culture and industry which Maruni Wood Industry Inc. promotes. By returning to our original goal, we will seek for Furniture, Business and Service.

1. It's a compound project composed of various sub-projects.

Development of new products / In this project we request world-renowned designers to design products as messages for Japanese aesthetics and we have announced these designed products. In 2004, Maruni Wood Industry Inc. requested "small chairs." In 2005, "armchairs." Then "lounge chairs and tables matching them" and "tables for dining" in 2006.
In 2007 and 2008, our activities will mainly be commercializing products that have already been announced, improving the existing products, and developing other variations to the chairs.
nextmaruni carries out its project with the designer's support.
The collaborative designers are as follows;

Alberto Meda
Harri Koskinen
Jasper Morrison
Kanji Ueki
Kazuyo Sejima+Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA
Masayuki Kurokawa
Michele De Lucchi
Naoto Fukasawa
Shigeru Uchida
Shin Azumi
Tamotsu Yagi
Tomoko Azumi
(alphabetical)

International Competition / In this project, we organize a design competition with the same theme as explained in the product development above. There will not be one in 2008.
International design competition / nextmaruni
compe.designtope.net／DESIGNTOPE

Publication / In this project we present the fruits of the small chairs' designs to the public in the form of publication.
Exhibition / In this project we exhibit the newly developed design-products in the exhibitions that will make world-tour.

2. It's a project trying to synthesize culture and industry, that is in other words, the project to industrialize culture.

It commercializes the excellent design works.
The exhibitions of the works can be the introduction of the new line of Maruni's products.
The museum on the web is a shop on the web where you can purchase the products exhibited in it.

3. It's a project to promote inter-cultural exchanges on the basis of the understanding of the world as the system sustained by co-existence of diversified cultures.

The works presented are to give the messages to the senses of beauty of Japan and Japanese people.
The project is to claim Japanese culture to the world through the exhibitions and the publications and to learn from the cultures of the world.
Design Competitions are to be held with a view to acquiring wisdom from the world.

4. We consider the market as the place for the exchange of different opinions. Dialogues start only when someone claims his or her own opinions.

The works and the activities in this project put the greatest importance on the esthetic senses of our own.
We listen to the opinions of others modestly to learn something from them.
It promotes the chances for the exchange of opinions considering the market as the place for dialogues.

5. We keep returning to the original goal always in mind.

Small chairs are the most basic origins of furniture so we start from the development of these basic items.
We consider the products as dialogues that tell us what creating things should originally and really be like.
We consider business as a kind of basic cultural activities.
We keep on the original wish and passion we've inherited from the founder of Maruni.

6. We place equal importance on both concentration and expansion.

We seek for establishing our position in the international market not as a furniture company but as a chair maker.
We seek for acquiring international appeal power as a company specialized in the production of chairs.
We seek for establishing ourselves as a company to be widely recognized with its special properties.

7. We place importance on alliance.

We aim for the establishment of corporative relationships with many other companies while commercializing limited furniture, mainly chairs. We try not to expand our line of products as much as possible.
We aim for the establishment of technological alliance with various other companies with special technologies.
We aim for the establishment of the corporative relationships with other companies in terms of the sales of the products.