In tandem with the release of Chowa’s first design object, Terasu, was a shoot photographed by Miki Takashima in an esteemed location: Raymond Farm Center for Living Arts & Design, New Hope, PA. From the moment one enters the Raymond Center, its authenticity is felt: the construction tells a story of Antonin Raymond’s travels and admiration for Japan which bridges its sensibility with that of America, seamlessly. Given its resonance with Chowa’s own understanding of harmony, it is a great honor for it to be the location of the Terasu lamp's first residential shoot. Antonin Raymond was a Czech-American architect who lived and worked in New York City,...
It was an honor for Chowa to launch our first design object, in collaboration with The Mercer Hotel. It felt apt to host the event at The Mercer, on account of its quintessential New York City atmosphere, embodying the western, metropolitan side of the Chowa ethos: providing Chowa the space to create harmony with the traditional elements of the Terasu project which hark from Japan’s past, from the object’s materials, to the ethos of its craft. To express the feeling within the project, Serious Construction designed and created an installation/interior which completely transformed the suite into a world of Terasu. Terasu’s...
For the past year Chowa has been developing a very special project. A culmination of thought, research and heart: Terasu marks a shift in Chowa’s practice, and kiri-bako craftsmanship. “From 300 years of handcrafting sustainable boxes to making a lamp, Terasu is an innovative milestone for both Chowa and the kiri-bako artisans in Japan that illuminates a harmony between eras, ideas and cultures.” - Ray Suzuki An ode to Japanese classical materials and crafts, Terasu was created with preservation in mind. It implements the sustainable practices of Fukuyama into a design-object: using Paulownia and Washi paper sourced locally to the...
Inherent to the idea of Chowa is the blending of cultures, and eras: where a new thought can ignite a tradition or aesthetic of the past… A particularly intriguing exponent of this concept is Sutemi Horiguchi, whose work situates itself between seemingly disparate contexts: an architect who surveyed Japanese history with a contemporary lens, yet remained faithful to its sacred cultures. Horiguchi was born in the Gifu prefecture in 1895, from a learned Japanese background: writing waka poems and practicing tea ceremony from a very early age. As a teenager he discovered his admiration for Fauvism and the paintings of...
What happens when the most enduring form of storage leaves behind ubiquity and becomes a unique protagonist? Have a glance at this eclectic mix of artworks in which the box isn’t just a structural solution, but a means of conceptual expression. Andy Warhol Brillo Box (Soap Pads), 1964 Close to exact copies of commercial packaging, Andy Warhol’s brillo boxes pose questions that persist to this day: When and how does a familiar or mundane object become a work of art? The most meta part of the Brillo works are, the fact that Warhol made numerous of them and widely...