Space-saving designs have been popular around the world, and have found particular success in the smaller spaces inhabited by Japanese city dwellers. Homes in these areas would often feature innovative space-saving systems, such as drop-down beds which served as wardrobes by day and sleeping accommodation by night. Sugatsune has played a key role in the introduction of products that make space-saving systems safer and quieter.
The dangers involved in these space-saving systems were often all too apparent, and the noise made would often disturb the neighbours. Japanese etiquette dictates that other people’s living space should not be disturbed through unnecessary loud noises. This dates back to when Japanese towns were built from wood and paper, meaning that sound travelled easily.
When Sugatsune introduced a mechanism that used a combination of springs and hydraulic dampers to tame the motion of the drop-down bed – thus making it safer – it was both a revelation and an instant success.
Sugatsune had been producing hydraulic dampers for toilet seats since the 1980’s – a successful venture that it was keen to repeat through products such as the Talman wardrobe system.
A drop-down bed with a similar mechanism was launched in the 1990s. Although the trend for drop-down beds has since faded, the underlying requirement for space-saving design is still essential in the majority of Japanese homes – and using springs and dampers to control motion has identified Sugatsune as a market leader.
Up until now, although many of the products were ideal for the local domestic market, they lacked export appeal. However, Sugatsune’s SDS, the world’s first soft-down mechanism for a kitchen cabinet, offered a product ideal for the global market. Kitchen designers were no longer limited to conventionally-opening doors, but could specify lift-up openings which utilised space further.
As the SDS was followed by mechanisms for different types of doors, Sugatsune motion-control devices started to transform modern Japanese homes, followed by those in America and Europe. In turn, Sugatsune had created an entirely new market for motion control components.
The first soft-close stays simply dampened flap doors, but the current complex up-and-over and bi-folding mechanisms are available with full lift-assist and stop-anywhere functions. The EZS-ELAN, for example, allows a semi-up-and-over door to be opened to the optimum height for the user, and to close silently from this position.
Intelligent systems, such as the LIN-X, have space-saving parallel opening doors that are fitted like standard concealed hinges, and are popular with wheelchair users. The same eye-catching parallel opening motion is also reflected in much larger versions, like the FAD, for ceiling-height doors – which look impressive in commercial spaces.
Many of the world’s luxury toilet seats are dampened with Sugatsune capsules, a mechanism that carries through into the HG-JHM series of dampened hinges for desk flaps. Ideal for map desks in yachts and vanity tables in hotels, the hinges silently close the inherently-noisy objects.
Noisy interior doors can now be retrofitted with the LDD soft-close mechanism, which – unlike the average door closer – leaves the door free to swing and prevents slamming. Sliding doors like the LM-80 close quietly by themselves at the end of their movement.
Along with motion control products, Sugatsune produces a vast array of industrial components and furniture hardware. The company aims to bring products that are unique to the market, so that even familiar looking products, when examined, reveal true innovation.
