History of Nychair X

Founded in 1945, Fujiei Corporation is a company that manufactures, wholesales and retails a wide selection of lifestyle, interior and furniture goods. It carried Nychair X in its portfolio since its launch in 1970.

In the 1990s, the economic recession caused by the bursting of the bubble economy caused a major change in the furniture business. Department stores were downsizing their furniture sales floors, and furniture stores were closing down, leaving no space to sell products. It was necessary to change the mindset about points of sale, and there was a shift from the specialty shops to large-scale general stores with various lifestyle goods.

In September 2013, we at Fujiei were shaken by a sudden notice from Nii Furniture Ltd. that they are discontinuing the chair production. The shock reinforced our sense of responsibility as a company that evolved over the past 40 years with Nychair X: "We cannot let this pride of Japan, a chair cherished around the world go extinct".

This pledge had already been shared by the sales team of Nychair X. Indeed, minutes of in-house meetings at Fujiei contain remarks like "we must keep the fire going in any circumstances never to disgrace Takeshi Nii".

In 2014, Fujiei officially succeeded the production and sales of Nychair X along with its history. The operations are directed by Mr. Shimazaki who have long accompanied the steps of Nychair X in place of late Nii.

No design drawings were left for Nychair X. The production process had to be developed from the scratch by studying the chair. The levels of sitting comfort and elegance directly depend on the six types of parts that make up the simple structure. These parts leave no room for compromise, which can only be manufactured by mobilizing advanced technological capabilities. Robust production capacity is vital to ensure reliable market supply. All such requirements were cleared by running entire manufacturing processes in Japan.

Takeshi Nii stuck to his conviction that "true chairs should be affordable and useful as a tool without any compromise on comfort level". Today, artisans carry on his spirit with us by developing and proposing new ways to further enhance quality.

In 2019, Fujiei released a limited 50th anniversary edition of Nychair X a year ahead of the anniversary. Two types of fabric - kinari (ecru) and kuro (black) – were used along with armrest materials with wood grain or knot patterns. The texture of materials in their natural forms cannot be effectively expressed without solid technological capabilities.

The model demonstrates Fujiei's commitment to carry on the history over the next 50 years in joint efforts with outstanding artisans. In 2020, Fujiei released a concept book that features images from manufacturing sites and daily living to reflect on the past 50 years. It also presents the concept adopted by Fujiei to inherit Nychair business with a roadmap for business succession and development.

In 2020, Fujiei released Nychair X 80 as the lightest and most compact model among all existing series. It was prompted by a repair requested by a longstanding user. The old Nychair X 80 delivered to us for repair retained elegance and sitting comfort, which fact drove us to the revival at any cost. Back then, however, without enough capacity built up for producing Nychair X or maintaining and enhancing the quality, Fujiei could not embark on product development yet.

In the next several years, our society has radically changed, and lifestyles diversified even further. With stable production in place, Fujiei decided to revive the model as a suitable tool for enjoying emerging lifestyles.