Our hands are porous containments, only able to hold a frog, a fruit, a flower, or another hand. Our hands are scavengers, jugglers, manipulators, openers, and embracers–rather than containers. We can only hold onto something or someone for so long. It’s not the insular ability to hunt and carve spears that propelled our civilization forwards, but our capacity to gather, carry, and store. Perhaps, our hands needed to extend themselves in capacity further than a handful. To employ a sling, a net woven out of flax fiber and your own hair, where we were able to gather precious oats, earthy...
Sanada Himo cord was historically used for decorative ties of suits of armor, swords, and scrolls. It is believed that tea ceremony master 千利休 Sen no Rikyu (1522-1591) was the first to use the Sanada Himo to tie a paulownia box: now they are the classical ties of Kiri Bako. Sanada Himo cord was also used by the general public to tie up luggage, due to its excellent durability. Their origin is unconfirmed, and there are various tales that are believed to be its conception… The most common being that whilst the legendary samurai 真田 幸村 Yukimura Sanada and his...
With an array of unique features, Kiri-bako style boxes have long been used to store some of the most precious items in Japan for over 300 years It’s almost hard to believe that wood could be fireproof… Kiri (or Paulownia) wood is porous, with a honeycomb structure that carbonizes upon ignition. With a low number of ligins Ligins, are amorphous polymer, and a key wood component. paulownia has a low number of these, therefore generating almost no combustible gas when heating. This combined with its oxygen blocking structure means it successfully protects itself from fire. Did you know that one...
An overview Kiri-bako’s material, and a few of its ecological traitsPaulownia (Kiri), the wood our objects are made from, is environmentally radical because of the speed at which it grows, and heals the soil it lives in… meaning that it is a form of timber production that doesn’t damage the earth. Paulowniceae has many species, it is still debated how many (between 6 and 17). Most of the species are traced back as considered to be natives of China, although they have long been cultivated in Japan and Korea as well. The giant trees have deciduous ‘elephantine’ leaves, with a...
Akebono Kougei is located in Fukuyama, Japan. Based in the Bingo region, it is known for its Bingo Kiri-bako style box making practice, spanning over 300 years. Akebono Kougei is currently run by 桑田真由美 (Mayumi Kuwada). She took over the business from her father 桑田實 (Minoru Kuwada), a skilled craftsman who ran the factory from 1972 to 2003. In the Edo period, from 1600 to 1868, the Bingo region grew: with a burgeoning industry producing paulownia furniture. Bingo was known for 桐 (kiri) furniture due to the area’s indigenous growth of some of the highest quality paulownia, along with Aizu...