Furniture Maker Tai-Workshop

About Health furniture

In recent years, [Health furniture], [Health measure furniture] has become something popular in Japan. It started when many people found that chemical substances in the building materials used in the construction of a new house give some bad effects to the human body, causing a trouble to one's physical condition. Recently, it has become a problem in the society.
This phenomenon called as [sick house syndrome] or [chemical substance irritation] the increasing of the high airtight house in the recent years might cause that.
These chemical substances usually are widely used such as in the adhesive materials, carpet, vinyl cloth, Japanese mat, moth repellant, insecticide and others. Now, even the medical research still could not make clear the causation between the substances and the symptoms caused by them.

In Japan, in July 1996, a committee called as [Health House Research Committee] was established, joined by the experienced scholarship, related industries and ministries such as the Ministry of Construction, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Ministry of Health and Welfare and also the Ministry of Forestry. Together they made the study and discussion to get the solution regarding the environmental problem in the health and safety aspects of the building interior. Then in April 1998, they released the [Guard line to decrease the air pollution in the design and construction of building interior] and the [User's manual to decrease the air pollution in the building interior].
From 291 known as a harmful volatile organic compound, especially 6 substances (formaldehyde, toluene, Xylene, plastic substance, chemical substance used to prevent rot in the wood material, insecticide) were classified to have a high possibility to cause damage to the health.
Moreover, start form Jun 2000, [Building interior's air problem research committee] was established with the objective to advance the study and discuss intensively, especially a theme classified as importance and need to be handled urgently from the remaining themes, and their activity still continue.

About the Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde is a chemical substance that is used in the making of adhesive material (urea resin) and paint (amino Alkyd resin). However, it has a high toxicity that could bring a big effect to the health and it is becoming a problem now.
The next table shows the symptom that could be seen when someone is exposed to formaldehyde.

Regarding the need to reduce the diffusion quantity of priority substances took up by the [Health House Research Committee], and also to consider the guard line from the Ministry of Health and Welfare regarding the density in the building interior, the union of the house product association will start to implement all the measures as a guideline in the construction from October 2001 in order to achieve it as early as possible.
The standard for the diffusion quantity of formaldehyde used in the storing, furniture, construction materials and equipment for house facilities must be below the Fc0 standard prescribed by the Japan Agriculture and forestry Standard (JAS). For the MDF and particleboard, it must be below the E0 standard prescribed by the Japan Industrial Standard (JIS).

Now, the safety and health aspect of the house environment has gained a big interest among the people. Many people want a house that restrains the use of chemical substances, using no chemical substances, using natural raw materials as a building materials and the use of more wood materials. Moreover, the tendency towards the natural materials for house construction among the customer is increasing and among the house maker, a case where a customer demand the use of natural paint for the finishing of the room for the children and aged member of the family is also increasing.
Recently, the synergistic effect of the tendency towards a lifestyle called as 'return to natural' has made 'natural orientation' a trend among the people and this phenomenon has called a lot of interest from the furniture maker, also from the plywood and paint maker.
Every maker now already started to respond to this new trend by producing a product for the market that is using materials with less non-formalin and low-formalin, a substances that cause health disorder, also the formaldehyde and VOC (volatile compound). Especially, in the recent 1 ~ 2 years period, some of the major furniture maker changed all of their products to the health measure products in respond to the new trend. This is important because if they do not respond to the situation quickly, their responsibility for the society will be questioned and this is bad for the company's image.

Recently, the standard used by the Japan famous mail order company (catalog name: Tsuushin-Seikatsu) for furniture safety are as below.
1) Formaldehyde : <=3.15mg/L (same or below Fc2 standard)
2) No chlorine bleaching during the making process for the fabric used for the seat. Use no PVC type synthetic fiber.
3) Fabric is formaldehyde-free <=20ppm.
Firstly, if the product can't clear the safety standard as above, the maker won't be able to make business with the company.

About the natural paint (oil finish)

Before this, oil finish was not used for mass production in the furniture making because without paint layer on the surface of the furniture made it to become dirty easily. However, following the health-oriented reason, all the makers for children furniture, table set and etc start to line up products that considering the safety aspect by using a natural paint for oil finish. Moreover, in the big city, most of the popular small-scale furniture makers are using the oil finish for their furniture. In Japan, Muji (type of chain-shop like Ikea) also start to sell a children study table with oil finish.
Talking about painting materials that correspond to the environment, there is a T.X free polyurethane, a water paint. Even water paint contains less health-destructive substances compare to the solvent base paint, it has many other problems.
So here [natural paint] began to get an attention as a new alternative. This type of paint contains almost no petrochemistry products and consists of natural grease, natural resin, natural wax and others.
It also doesn't use turpentine and orange peel oil, substances that caused health problem and used in the natural solvent. Moreover, because organic solvent such as aromatic type hydrocarbon caused a bad effect to human's nerve trunk and blood forming tissue, iso-paraffin, white spirit, ethyl-alcohol are used to replace it. Ingredients used for main element of paint such as acrylic resin, urethane resin, epoxy resin that caused an allergic reaction are removed and replaced by linseed oil, carnuba wax, casein, walnut oil and copal.
As a character, every type of natural paint penetrate into the wood and harden it and there will be no paint layer on the surface of the wood. By this way, the wood's respiratory function would not be disturbed and the beauty of the wood's texture can be clearly seen. Moreover, this type of paint produces no harmful substances.
Looking at the above character, it can be said that natural paint is coming from the conventional oil finishing type paint that already improved to be less pollute to the environment. In other words, harmful drier such as lead is removed (but dryer is still used), and use a solvent that has a less effect to human body.
Recently in Japan, many magazines related to furniture and interior design likes to introduce a feature article about natural paint and the use of natural materials in the house construction and it's really call a lot of interest from the people. It's certainly has become one of the trend nowadays.
Using a natural paint during the finishing, compare to the conventional way of painting, the drying process is slow, means it needs more time to finish the whole painting process and not suitable to place it on the painting line. These are the weak points of natural paint and it also the problem faced by the mass production furniture maker. Moreover, there will be no painting layer on the surface of the furniture, make it's performance against surrounding pollution to drop. In Japan, the perception regarding this point is advancing, but the manufacturing and sales side has to make the customer to really understand about it. For that reason, this type of finishing is said to be a difficult method for the furniture maker. However as shown at the next table, the customer still accept this type of finishing even there are some weak points. It seems that nothing can stop the trend to buy a product that is friendly to the nature and health.

Recently, health oriented and universal design is the key points for the Japan furniture. Now, there is no specific data regarding the shipment percentage of the furniture that responds to the health and using a natural paint as a finishing. Especially, for the furniture that doesn't consider the formaldehyde measurement during the making, there is a high possibility it could not be sold anymore in the future. Moreover, regarding the natural paint, for the time being there is no definition by the law, means the standard still in obscurity. However, it is just a problem of time.

(Nov 2001 / kohji Katsuragi)

Tai-Workshop / 1608-2 Nishizato,Oguni-Cho,Aso-Gun,Kumamoto 867-2504 Japan
Copyright(c) 2004, tai-workshop / kohji katsuragi