For minor aches and pains, a good hot tub is known to do the trick. What if you add the beautiful, fine grained wood of cypress, known for its medicinal properties and aromatic fragrance, into the design of a tub? Ryu Kosaka is a Japanese designer who answers this rhetorical question with his Cypress Ofuro tub that uses solid wood in a well-rounded way.

Cypress Ofuro Tub. Designed by Ryu Kosaka.

Combining Ancient Japanese Bathing with Modern, Wooden Designs Creates the Cypress Ofuro Bath Tub by Ryu Kosaka

Although the concept of bathing itself is not new, Kosaka combines the ancient art of Japanese bathing with 21st century machinery that precisely cuts and fuses rounded pieces of cypress wood together. The end result measures 1815 cm in diameter, and has a height of 630 cm, and looks similar to a hot tub. Traditionally, the product website says that “this material is used for Buddhist statues and the structure of temples and sanctuaries”. They add that the “Fitontsid” fragrant qualities of the cypress wood are recognized for “disinfection, repellent of insects, relaxation, conservation, and preservation from humidity”. Other than its use in the bathing vessel, cypress also makes great cutting boards, kitchen utensils, and other durable goods for the home.

The goal of this tub design employed by Ryu Kosaka is to “express softness”, he says. Continuing on to say that this is one of the characteristics of the cypress wood that creates “something you just could not resist touching”. As an Executive Creative Director of A.N.D., Kosaka was born and trained in Tokyo. He has worked on the interior design of many restaurants and shops as well as the Mandarin Hotel Tokyo’s main dining room. The shape and style of the Cypress Ofuro tub is representative of his words on being a designer of products that matter, saying, “I am not an artist, I am just trying to give an attractive shape to what my clients want”.