### Voices of the times in rice husk furniture - From the scene of the 2007 Shiga Environmental Business Messe (November 2007)

### Voices of the times in rice husk furniture - From the scene of the 2007 Shiga Environmental Business Messe (November 2007)

At the Shiga Environmental Business Messe held in Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture, in November 2007, furniture manufacturer Itoki presented Huskboard, a new material made from rice hulls that are compression-molded. Kohei Morimoto, the person in charge of the project, explained, "We applied the existing particleboard processing method and made it by ourselves from the beginning," and showed visitors the possibility of utilizing rice husks. He also emphasized the connection between local resources and industry, saying, "If we use 2% of the rice husks in Shiga Prefecture, we can supply all of our study desk tops. At the time, Japan was facing soaring oil prices and rising construction material prices, and there was a need for alternative resources that could be procured domestically. Since 2 million tons of rice husks were generated annually, 30% of which were incinerated, rice husks were considered a promising material for reducing environmental impact and recycling resources.
The prototype contained 18% silica, was hard, had excellent design, and was close to practical application. In the background, environmental awareness has been rising since the Kyoto Protocol came into effect, and consumers have begun to gravitate toward environmentally friendly products. This exhibition was a symbolic event that brought the concept of environmental friendliness into the everyday experience through the possibilities of familiar materials.