Modernity Meets Classic: Case of Furniture Refurbishment at Mampei Hotel

925 Karuizawa, Kitasaku District, Nagano 389-0102,Japan

A new chapter in a classic hotel

Karuizawa, one of Japan's most iconic holiday destinations, is renowned for its fresh air, natural landscape with four distinct seasons, and long history of Western-style sojourn culture. Located here, Mampei Hotel has a 100-year history of blending Western culture to provide guests with a comfortable experience, making it one of the earliest Western-style accommodations in Japan.In 2018, the hotel's Alpine Hall was listed as a Tangible Cultural Property of Japan; and in 2024, in celebration of its 130th anniversary, the hotel underwent a major renovation to add new facilities such as guest rooms and a ballroom, as well as urgently needing upgraded furnishings to enhance the guest experience.

During the design process of the ballroom, how to satisfy the classic Western style while taking into account the modern hotel's need for high-frequency use and easy management became a key consideration in this project. The hotel wanted to find a furniture solution that could be visually compatible with the historical building and at the same time provide a better experience in terms of functionality. Through in-depth communication, Yumeya team provided a solution to transform the solid wood chairs into metal wood grain chairs, helping the hotel to find the perfect balance between function and aesthetics.

Ideal for efficient operations: light weight and flexibility

The interior of the ballroom is designed with a sense of space and warmth, cleverly combining quality fabrics, soft tones and sophisticated materials to create a clean and vibrant atmosphere. Warm yellow and beige tables and chairs are set against the lush green nature of the exterior, creating a sense of space that is both relaxing and elegant. Soft fabric-wrapped chair backs and brass-textured detailing add a sense of understated luxury to the space. The hotel's Western-style cottage exterior and the natural light from the large windows create a nostalgic atmosphere, allowing guests to enjoy the beauty of the seasons and the natural atmosphere of Karuizawa. Comfortable seating is vital in such an environment, with furniture that not only matches the classic ambience of the hotel, but also offers comfort, durability and aesthetic design. Carefully selected furniture enhances the overall experience, allowing guests to enjoy the view while feeling the comfort and high-quality service conveyed in the details.

Banquet halls at Mampei Hotel offer two types of set-up: dining format and conference format to accommodate a variety of banquets, conferences and private parties. Due to the frequent daily setup changes, the furniture is used frequently, which comes with increased labour and time costs. So how can hotels and event venues effectively manage these challenges without compromising on service quality?

The answer is aluminium furniture.

Aluminium furniture is the ideal solution to this problem. Unlike solid wood, aluminium, as a light metal, is only one-third the density of steel, meaning that aluminium furniture is not only lightweight but also easy to move around. This makes it easier for hotel staff to arrange and adjust the furniture, greatly reducing the time and physical effort consumed in moving it, thus effectively reducing labour costs.

If furniture dealers are struggling with furniture selection for their hotel projects, they may want to try using lightweight and durable furniture solutions. This not only helps hotels and event venues increase efficiency and reduce costs, but also enhances the overall guest experience - a win-win for both dealers and clients.

Maximising space efficiency

In hotels and banqueting venues, it has always been a challenge for the industry to ensure efficient storage of large quantities of seating without compromising on ease of access or operational flexibility. As the hospitality industry's demand for efficient operations continues to grow, the functionality and space optimisation capabilities of furniture are becoming key factors in purchasing decisions.

In this project, for example, the ballroom can accommodate up to 66 guests, but when the ballroom is not in use or needs to be reconfigured, the issue of seating storage becomes an important consideration in operations management. Traditional seating solutions often take up a large amount of storage space, complicating logistics and reducing overall operational efficiency.

To solve this problem, the project team chose a stackable seating solution. This type of seating combines durability, comfort and aesthetics with the benefits of efficient storage. The stackable design allows multiple chairs to be stored vertically, significantly reducing storage space and improving site utilisation. At the same time, the accompanying transport trolley improves the efficiency of chair handling, allowing staff to adjust the layout of the space more easily and quickly when rearranging the venue.

For hotels and event venues, choosing a versatile and space-saving furniture solution not only optimises operational processes, but also reduces labour costs and improves venue turnover. Stackable seating is one such solution that combines practicality and flexibility, improving space utilisation and making the experience more comfortable for guests.

Ultra-short lead time challenge: from solid wood to metal wood grain

The delivery time for this project was extremely tight, with less than 30 days from order placement to final delivery. Such a short lead time is almost unachievable with the traditional production process for solid wood furniture, especially for customised styles, which usually require a much longer production cycle. At the beginning of the project, the hotel provided detailed sample drawings and clarified the specific needs for the design. Upon receipt of these requirements, we quickly made adjustments and optimisations, especially in terms of precise customisation in terms of size, functionality and durability. At the same time, in order to complete the production within a limited time, the metal wood grain technology was chosen to significantly shorten the production cycle while retaining the classic appearance of wooden furniture, which gives the furniture an elegant and natural feel, as well as greater durability and higher resistance to damage, to meet the needs of high-frequency use environments.

Why does use metal wood grain?

Metal wood grain, is a heat transfer printing technology, people can get solid wood texture on the metal surface. It not only retains the natural beauty of wood furniture, but also has higher durability, environmental friendliness and convenient maintenance characteristics, making it an ideal choice for high-end commercial furniture.

Environmentally friendly: Compared to traditional solid wood furniture, metal wood grain technology reduces the consumption of natural wood, helping to reduce the depletion of forest resources, in line with the trend of sustainable development.

Durability: Metal frames have higher strength and impact resistance, and can withstand high-frequency usage environments without being easily deformed or damaged, extending the life of the furniture.

Easy to clean: The metal wood grain surface has excellent dirt and scratch resistance, making daily maintenance easier and suitable for hotels, banquet halls and other high-traffic density places.

Light weight: Compared with traditional wooden furniture, metal is lighter and more efficient in handling and adjustment, reducing labour costs in hotel operations.

In order to ensure that the whole process from prototyping, testing to mass production is completed within a short period of time, Yumeya's team adopts automated production equipment, such as high-precision cutting machines, welding robots and automatic upholstery machines, which greatly improves the production efficiency and reduces the human error, so that the chair dimensions are strictly controlled to be within 3mm, ensuring that the product can be accurately matched with the hotel space and at the same time reach the high-end craftsmanship level.

In addition, on the basis of meeting the ergonomic design, the angle and support of the chair have been strictly considered to ensure the comfort of use:

• 101° Back tilt angle provides optimal backrest support for long time use.
• 170° Back curvature to fit the human body curve and reduce back pressure.
• 3-5° Seat surface inclination, optimising lumbar spine support and improving comfort.

In this way, not only did we fulfil the time challenge of the project, but we also created a perfect balance between design and functionality.

In addition to advanced production processes and precise manufacturing techniques, we have invested great attention in every detail of the products, because in the Japanese market, control of details and quality is crucial. The products provided for the hotel this time have been carefully selected with high-quality materials and technologies to ensure that each piece of furniture will demonstrate excellent quality:

High Density Foam: High density foam with high resilience is used to ensure no deformation within 5 years for a longer comfortable experience.

Co-operation with Tiger Powder Coating: Co-operation with the well-known brand Tiger Powder Coating increases the abrasion resistance by 3 times, effectively preventing daily scratches and keeping the appearance as new.

Durable Fabrics: Fabrics with a friction resistance of more than 30,000 times are not only durable, but also easy to clean and maintain a perfect look for a long time.

Smooth Welded Seams: Each welded seam is carefully polished to ensure there are no visible marks, demonstrating exquisite craftsmanship.

These attentions to details are an important guarantee for the Yumeya team to provide customers with high quality products, and also reflect our extreme pursuit of every detail.

Future Trends in Hotel Furniture Selection

The hotel industry's demand for furniture is gradually developing in the direction of high efficiency, durability and easy maintenance. Metal wood grain technology is not only visually comparable to traditional wood furniture, but also demonstrates unique advantages in terms of durability, light weight and environmental characteristics. For hotel operations, choosing this type of furniture not only reduces long-term maintenance costs, but also improves overall operational efficiency. The refurbishment of the Karuizawa Centennial Hotel may provide the industry with new ideas and references, so that more hotels can find the ideal furniture solution for their own development in the process of modernisation and upgrading.