Kirizuna

There is a moment in the design process when a material stops being a constraint and becomes a vision. Kirizuna was born precisely from that moment.

The project emerged from a collaboration with Xlam Dolomiti, a company from Trentino with over a decade of expertise in structural timber panel processing, and from research conducted together with the Bruno Kessler Foundation (FBK). The starting point is the Paulownia, Kiri in Japanese, the fastest-growing tree in the world, a sacred symbol of strength and longevity in Eastern culture. A single hectare absorbs over 100 tonnes of CO₂ per year, and the tree regenerates from its stump without needing to be replanted, making it a natural emblem of the circular economy.

Through a patented industrial densification process, Xlam Dolomiti transformed this exceptionally light wood (just 250 kg/m³ in its natural state) into SUPERTIMBER: a material reaching densities of up to 1,250 kg/m³, with mechanical strength comparable to steel, a negative carbon footprint, and the full workability of timber. The name Kirizuna carries the DNA of the project within it: Kiri is the Paulownia; Kizuna means "bond" the invisible thread connecting nature, technology and design.

The design by MM Design expresses formal rigour and technical precision. The structural core of Kirizuna is a reduced-thickness band that challenges traditional load-bearing limits: the backrest becomes both support and surface simultaneously, defining a new paradigm of technical comfort in which form and function merge into a single design gesture.

The module is conceived for infinite scalability from an ergonomic armchair to a system for collective spaces. Kirizuna responds to the growing demand for contract and hospitality solutions that combine structural performance, aesthetic identity and environmental responsibility. Every minimal cross-section, made possible by the extraordinary strength of SUPERTIMBER, reduces visual weight without compromising structural integrity.

Kirizuna is more than a chair. It is the first design application of a material innovation set to redefine the boundaries of contemporary design: an object that carries within it the story of a tree, the research of a laboratory, and the vision of a design studio.

Kirizuna was developed as part of NODI — Culture, Enterprise and Design of Trentino Wood, a project promoted by the Autonomous Province of Trento, coordinated by Trentino Sviluppo in collaboration with Trentino Marketing, curated by Paolo Baldessari and Aldo Colonetti.