Nojiri Keiku ~ the sweets store
Lighting as an interior decoration

Seeking a new potential for chochin lantern

I produced a lighting as an interior decoration by applying the technique of chochin lantern making.
I made a custom-made lighting for the interior decoration of the sweets store Nojiri Cake. Although I have never made an unconventional chochin lantern before, after one year of trail and error, the finished lighting came out just as I imagined it to be.
※delivery in 2019

Expressing a life cycle
of a flower with
chochin lantern.

I designed and produced a lighting as an interior decoration with a request from an architect Satomi Yoshino who coordinates shop’s interior decoration. Her request was “to express a lifecycle of a flower by chochin lantern”, but at first I had no clear image in my mind, so we proceeded by holding numerous meetings using a design sketch to share our images.

Since her request was to express the process of a flower blooming, I made four products, each representing seed, bud, swelling, and full bloom respectively by using washi paper to portray the flower petals. Since her order came with a broad image with no precise blueprint, I asked the final shape of the product to be entrusted to me. Conventionally, the washi paper is cut after being pasted equally spaced out, but since her request was to paste the washi paper in a shape of petals, I left its edges uncut in order to liken it to petals.

Although it was the first time I have ever made such lighting as an interior decoration, since I had plenty of time for production, it gave me a chance to get creative. The production procedure was more like creating a piece of artwork as it required aesthetic expression, but I managed to visualize my image by trying different methods of pasting and overlapping the washi papers.

I have never received an order other than customary chochin lantern production before, but it was important for me to take on a challenge of accepting a difficult order, which has been rejected by other studios. As a result, there were many new discoveries which could further expand the new potential of chohin lantern.

Concept

Key points of production

Making wooden models for each design
It was a difficult challenge even for the wooden model artisan to work with such wooden models, designed one by one to match each of the images. I adjusted the position of the thin bamboo strips to make it easier to paste the washi paper.
Asymmetrically designed chochin lantern
Normally, I would paste the washi paper evenly spaced out to make it symmetrical, but since each wooden model was randomly shaped, I prepared each paper with different shapes.
Echizen Washi in shape of a flower petal
I adopted a handmade Echizen Washi. I made tucks in each washi paper to resemble the petal, but the tucks tended to stretch out while being sprayed with water, so firmly pressing it down while pasting the washi paper required certain ingenuity.

Client

Nojiri Keiku sweets store

1-5-18, Sanrokucho 1-chome, Sabae, Fukui 916-0021
TEL : 0778-42-6469       
https://nojirikeiku.com/

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