Koki Moriyama, a versatile composer and musician in Japan’s music scene, has taken on the creation of a soundtrack for the KARIMOKU RESEARCH CENTER as part of a new initiative by Karimoku Furniture. He creates ambient music that blends into the space using sounds recorded at the furniture production sites and in the forests that nurture the timber. On June 8, 2025, the B1 level of the KARIMOKU RESEARCH CENTER hosted Ambient Moriyama Vol. 5, a concert of ambient music. The concert led the audience on a journey to a unique world woven from sound and space.
This article presents an interview with Moriyama, a member of the three-piece band odol and an active solo musician. The interview traces his creative journey, from his encounter with Karimoku Furniture, the discoveries made while recording sounds, and the process of transforming them into music, to the profound relationship between ambient music and furniture, and the new insights gained from the concert at the KARIMOKU RESEARCH CENTER.
While playing piano and synthesizer in the rock band odol beginning in 2014, Koki Moriyama also has a versatile profile as a solo musician. His work spans a wide range of fields, including composing scores for films and stage performances, composing commercial music, and producing other artists. He also hosts the occasional solo live event “Ambient Moriyama,” exploring his own unique musical world.
The collaboration with Karimoku Furniture grew out of a connection with Brad Holdgrafer, the creative director of the KARIMOKU RESEARCH CENTER.
“I heard from Brad that the soundtrack for the KARIMOKU RESEARCH CENTER was the missing final piece for the space. As we discussed how having original music and sound could complete it, this project came to life.” (Moriyama)
To Moriyama, Karimoku Furniture was a very familiar brand that had always been a part of his life since childhood.
“I have been familiar with Karimoku Furniture for a long time. The dining table and chairs in my childhood home were from Karimoku Furniture. Until I moved to Tokyo for university, I grew up eating at that table every day.” (Moriyama)
Although he had a long history with Karimoku Furniture, Moriyama admitted he had not heard of its newer initiatives— such as Karimoku Case, Karimoku New Standard, and the KARIMOKU RESEARCH CENTER— until this project. However, his impression changed greatly when he actually visited the KARIMOKU RESEARCH CENTER.
“Formerly, my image of Karimoku Furniture was as a leading manufacturer of traditional Japanese furniture. I did not have any particular picture; I viewed it as ‘colorless’ in the good sense of the term. But this image changed 180 degrees after my visit to KARIMOKU RESEARCH CENTER. It was extremely advanced and sophisticated; I could feel its innovative approach to embracing new challenges. Instead of exclusively pursuing efficiency and productivity, Karimoku Furniture strives to find meaning precisely in ordinary spaces. I was surprised to learn that it was a company with such a deep awareness.” (Moriyama)
When he received the offer from Holdgrafer, he said his first reaction was one of excitement. “While feeling a heavy responsibility, I knew this was going to be incredibly interesting.”
When creating the music, Moriyama took Holdgrafer’s advice and made field recordings in the Karimoku Furniture factory and in the forest that sources the company’s wood. This practice is part of Moriyama’s life’s work, serving as a vital source of inspiration for this project, as well.
“Field recordings capture sounds found only in that moment. Like photography, each is a one-time experience. For this very reason, I was very much looking forward to the field recordings in the Karimoku Furniture factory and in the forest. It was a wonderful experience.” (Moriyama)
During his three-day stay, Moriyama spent the first day in the factory and the remaining two in the forest. It was his first time visiting a factory in operation, and he was deeply impressed by its scale and precision.
“Before visiting, I imagined the factory would be a uniform operation, mostly mechanized, with production lines running efficiently. However, at the Karimoku Furniture factory, I could see a significant amount of handiwork by artisans, alongside machine production. I was surprised by the sense of unity, as machine production and the artisans’ handiwork fused so naturally.” (Moriyama)
Moriyama was especially moved by the speed of each process and the diversity of products flowing to final inspection. In the factory, he remarked that production is managed down to the second, with craftspeople working with machine-like precision. But that is not the whole of the story.
Moriyama also noted the delicate handiwork of the craftspeople: “In the process of wood sanding and finishing, they worked with meticulous care. Wood has, after all, individual differences as a living thing. I was deeply impressed by how swiftly and accurately they read every single difference, from the location of knots to the presence of bug holes.”
Moriyama was most surprised to see the wide variety of pieces flowing to final inspection. The sight of chairs, benches, and various other products appearing one after another was a far cry from the typical image of mass production, he said.
In the forest, Moriyama spoke directly with those in forestry and the lumber mills. There, he discovered the incredibly long timeline required before wood becomes a product. The fact that typical timber like Sugi cedar and Hinoki cypress takes 40 to 60 years to become usable shows that the bounty of the forest is supported by sustainable, long-term care that endures far into the future.
”In contrast to factories managed down to the second, forests grow trees with a vision decades into the future. I realized that this industry is successfully sustained because it bridges these two seemingly conflicting timelines: the rapid, second-by-second pace of the factory, and the long-term process of nurturing materials in the forest.” (Moriyama)
This connection between contrasting timelines deeply resonated with him. He was also impressed by the foresters’ dedication to utilizing wood without any waste. Ultimately, he was profoundly moved by how this broader, long-term perspective, paired with interpersonal communication, creates that sustainable flow.
Before creating the soundtrack for the space, Moriyama had the opportunity to perform live at the KARIMOKU RESEARCH CENTER. Testing the sounds recorded during that performance, he found they blended naturally into the environment, receiving an enthusiastic response from those on-site. “I felt no sense of mismatch with the sounds of the forest and factory echoing inside the KARIMOKU RESEARCH CENTER, in the heart of Tokyo. Instead, I felt they suited the space perfectly. Based on this experience, I mixed those sounds into the tracks, keeping them clearly recognizable,” Moriyama recalled.
Finding the sounds recorded in the factory were too dynamic to use as they were, Moriyama made repeated adjustments to ensure they blended naturally into the space. To eliminate the feeling of mismatch between the sounds of the bustling factory and the quiet KARIMOKU RESEARCH CENTER, he took steps to soften the sharper elements of the sound. More specifically, he performed audio processing to tone down the harsh high elements, making them sound as if they were coming from a distance.
The composition of the music was inspired by the flow of furniture manufacturing from the forest to the factory, and then to the home, which Moriyama experienced during his three days in the forest and factory.
Moriyama asserts that one of the ideal ways for music to be played in interior space is remaining “unperceived.” He explained this philosophy as follows: “Instead of having the ears and consciousness drawn to the music playing, the ideal is for the music to leave an impression as part of the holistic experience of the space.”
This thought bears a strong resemblance to the presence of furniture. Moriyama believes that if the furniture matches a space, it feels as if it has always been there. This is the very “presence” Moriyama aims for: music that continues to exist unperceived, just like furniture that has long belonged in the home.
Ambient music has a relatively short history, beginning in the late 1970s —about half a century ago— when Brian Eno pioneered the concept. Its roots, however, trace back to musique d’ameublement, a concept espoused by the French composer Erik Satie a century ago, in the 1920s. Moriyama explained that, whereas music had been premised on being actively listened to by audiences at concerts up until then, Satie introduced a new concept: music that blends into everyday life without being perceived, likening its presence to furniture. This challenge ran counter to the conventional wisdom holding that music was supposed to be actively listened to. Audiences of his day failed to fully understand his intent, so once the concert started, they would stop talking and end up just listening. About half a century later, however, Eno began releasing records of such music under the name “ambient music,” and today the concept has permeated the music scene.
Moriyama went on: “Furniture is easily used as a metaphor when discussing background music or environmental music, given its nature. In my work with ambient music, I myself am often aware of the presence of furniture.” Understanding this historical background made him realize once again how conceptual and deeply responsible it is to create ambient music for Karimoku Furniture.
The solo live performances, Ambient Moriyama, began half in fun and experimentally as Moriyama simply loved ambient music.
While ambient music does not aim for conscious listening, Moriyama points out the concerts attracted audiences that listened to the performance, which is, in a way, paradoxical. Yet, in the pursuit of this paradox, a new kind of live performance was born, where the audience shares the space while each spending time in their own way. Describing the experience as akin to watching a play or a movie, Moriyama reflects: “Because of that contradiction, it became a time I could truly cherish. Seeing the audience’s reaction, I didn’t feel the need to push a specific concept or explain anything, so I decided to just embrace that contradiction and keep doing it.” Moriyama’s continued pursuit of this unique experience led to the concert held at the KARIMOKU RESEARCH CENTER.
The concert, titled Ambient Moriyama Vol. 5, was such a wonderful experience that Moriyama described it as “one of the ideal forms.” Although the space is not typically used for music events, its inherent comfort and its power to encourage introspection perfectly aligned with his musical vision. Reactions from the audience varied as well. Some closed their eyes to concentrate on the sound, while others looked upward, experiencing the live performance in a way completely different from a conventional concert.
Even as Moriyama continues to explore what this experience truly is, he takes great satisfaction in knowing that it was time well spent for himself and the audience alike.
Through his work with Karimoku Furniture, Moriyama gained many insights. He was particularly struck by the value of spaces that aren't bound by a specific purpose or function, like the KARIMOKU RESEARCH CENTER. He was deeply impressed to see spaces where something might happen just by casually dropping by, and to find them actually functioning that way.
In fact, even the stage used for the performance came out of a casual conversation with the Karimoku Furniture staff. A simple idea of "Why not make something like this?" immediately led to "Let's do it," and it was created for the concert right away. “For a factory managed down to the second, responding flexibly to something irregular must be tough,” Moriyama noted, clearly impressed by Karimoku Furniture’s flexibility and capability. “The fact that they have an environment that can actually do this is remarkable.”
As for his future work, while remaining dedicated to his projects across various fields, Moriyama hopes to take on more playful work with room to explore—the kind where he can say, “I don’t fully get it, but I’m having fun.”
“Instead of just passively creating things on request, I was fortunate to do real research by visiting factories and forests, having deep communication with the team,” Moriyama added.
Moving forward, Moriyama hopes to continue expanding into work that sparks his intellectual curiosity and excitement.