First thing you ever made: “A cardboard car that could shoot toothpick missiles. In Japan, a lot of things are packaged in boxes, and when I was growing up my mom kept all of them for me, so I would use them to make things. On a more formal level, my first piece was a plywood-framed chair with an elastic webbed seat and back. I made it out of the waste from a project at the sculptor’s studio. When I look at my recent plywood and leather stool, though, I can see a similar structure — simple lines, spare use of material, a contrasting texture.”