In furniture circles, it’s a well-known fact, that the Japanese have a soft spot for Finn Juhl; there is an exact replica of the Danish designer’s private home in the city of Gifu, and in Hokkaido, retired professor Noritsugu Oda has amassed what is perhaps the world’s largest private collection of Juhl furniture, including a one-of-a-kind prototype sofa in maple, teak and oak that he bought from Juhl’s widow in the late 1990s.
Now, Japan can also boast a small Finn Juhl hotel – the first of its kind – in Hakuba, a village in the Japanese Alps, just outside the city of Nagano. ‘For me, it’s the ideal immersive Finn Juhl experience anywhere in the world,’ says Oda, who visited the hotel on its opening night.
The concept of Danish furniture maker, OneCollection, who produces and sells Juhl’s furniture (much of it made in Japan) the hotel - which pulls double duty as the company’s showroom - is housed in a 40-year-old former hotel, that has been reshaped to double the size of the rooms, adding en-suite bathrooms in the process.
Each of the six rooms - all named after a Finn Juhl masterpiece - and all the public areas are dressed with Juhl classics such as the ‘Poet’ sofa, ‘Chieftain’ chair, sideboards, tables and more, while his drawings and sketches grace the walls throughout. The rest of the interior meanwhile, follows a Scandinavian sensibility with white walls, stripped timber flooring and double casement windows.
The three public lounges invite guests to linger, explore and celebrate the furniture, and the basement bar has the added attraction of complimentary drinks throughout your stay.
