The name of Shin Okuda’s Los Angeles atelier comes from an unexpected source: a lyric of the Afrobeat innovator Fela Kuti. “Waka waka waka, I go many places,” Kuti sang. “I see my people.” This was a proclamation of his empathy for all fellow Africans. For Okuda, the phrase implies a similarly expansive and authentic concern. He is primarily a woodworker, with a background as an art fabricator (working for, among others, master of the design-art-decor mash-up Jorge Pardo). These days, Okuda produces objects that balance design rigor and charm in equal measure, like children’s drawings interpreted by Mies van der Rohe: rectilinear chairs with cheerful fringe hanging from the seat or a pronounced cylinder at the back.