~Clean up your entrance area~
Ichikawa Nursery School, Chiba Prefecture
Price: Complete set: From 1.6 million yen Individual unit: From 200,000 yen
Delivery date: April 2019
It was April 2019, the last spring of the Heisei era. We received a request from Ichikawa Nursery School in Chiba Prefecture to replace shoe lockers for 150 children and 50 teachers.
There's no place to store the children's shoes!!
As we transition from the Heisei to the Reiwa era, the lockers from before were either handmade by parents or donated in the previous fiscal year. When I checked the age, I found out they were donated in 1989, wow! They're already 30 years old.
The principal, Mr. Saito, requested that "The number of children is increasing, and the current shoe lockers are no longer enough for everything, so I would like you to make a wooden shoe locker that the children can use safely."
Starting with the design of shoe lockers for 150 people
Although we say 150 people, we are actually adding 20 people to the current shoe lockers that can accommodate about 130 people. Since we cannot change the installation space in the first place, we will draw the design by subtly changing the size of each square. We will also consider how the corners will fit as dead space.
What you need to consider here is calculating the smallest size that a child's shoes will fit into.
In addition, at Ichikawa Nursery School, parents wear slippers when they come to pick up their children, so there is also space reserved above for slippers.
The dimensions calculated this time are 20cm (200mm) wide, which is even smaller than the effective width of a typical child's shoe cabinet, which is around 22cm to 25cm.
All that's left is to consider the thickness of the board, and the drawing is complete. My head is already tired... (laughs)
Benefits of being able to make custom orders
Nakayoshi Library sells ready-made products, but we can also manufacture nursery furniture to order. In that case, we will fully support you until delivery, with the following process: [on-site meeting ⇒ measurement ⇒ quotation at a later date ⇒ production ⇒ delivery].
The advantage is that we can adapt to the needs of the nursery school.
Aren't custom-made items expensive?
Nakayoshi Library is a direct manufacturer. What sets us apart from many nursery furniture manufacturers is that we both sell and manufacture in-house. In other words, there is no middleman margin (commission). The benefit to nurseries is that they can introduce safer and more secure wooden nursery furniture (using Shimanto cypress) at a low cost. Also, because we are the manufacturer, we provide after-sales maintenance directly and for the entire life of the furniture. We can provide safety and security to children with wooden nursery furniture.
What about natural wood in water?
Nakayoshi Library's nursery furniture is coated with natural vegetable oil twice. The first coat penetrates the wood and hardens internally. The second coat of oil creates a coating on the surface. This coating finish repels water from the surface even if you put in slightly wet shoes, reducing the risk of water penetrating inside.
Unless you place it in a very humid place, a wooden shoe box will last a long time.
Delivery time
The peak season is from October to April. Orders placed during this period will take 2 months to be delivered. For other periods, please allow approximately 1 month for delivery.
The manufacturing process is also available online
Nakayoshi Library's nursery furniture is manufactured in our own factory in Kochi.
The sales representative who meets with the customer will draw up a plan, which is then made from scratch by a craftsman. A blog will be posted each day detailing which wood is used, where, who is using it, and how the product is made.
For example, in this age of widespread internet use, it is now possible to show children a story, such as, "This is how your new shoe cupboard is made."
Mr. Saito, the director of Ichikawa Nursery School, also came to see the shoe cabinet while it was being painted, and he said that it is difficult to convey the beauty of wood, such as its scent and texture, through the actual product and photographs. This will make the customer even happier when they receive the finished product.
The cypress shoe cabinets for the nursery school have finally been delivered!!
Introducing the shoe cabinet, made entirely from cypress. The teacher's shoe cabinet has a door, and the name folder is also made of wood. The entrance has become much brighter.
Finally, we took a commemorative photo with Professor Saito. Thank you very much.