Simple, versatile and beautifully crafted. The new furniture series called Engawa, designed for blomus by German Carsten Gollnick, is both a study in consistent minimalism and a salute to the Japanese design tradition's focus on the soul and the uniqueness of materials – in this case, beautiful, raw oak wood. The name Engawa draws its inspiration from Japanese culture, too; as a mix of two graphic characters – En, meaning relation, and gawa, meaning side – it points to the furniture’s function. The collection includes two side tables, a stool and a bench – the bench is so versatile it can also be used as a decorative low table on which to place a vase or a stack of books. Each furniture piece is defined through its relation either to another piece of furniture or to the body that will appreciate and make daily use of it. Carsten Gollnick wanted both the material and the design of the Engawa series to be humble as well as functional, to enable the furniture to last a lifetime. This is just how it is in Japan, where the furniture you choose to let into your home has not only visual and functional value but also cultural, historical, and philosophical meaning