While many artists and designers are influenced and inspired by existing genres, art movements or other people’s work, Chien-Wei Chang uses his own life as a source of…
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New at OEN Shop – Chasen (Matcha Whisks) by the Craftsmen at Chikumeido
We are now lucky enough to be stocking a selection of matcha whisks handmade by the talented craftsmen at Chikumeido in Takayama, Ikoma, a town not too far from Nara in Japan.
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Pushing the Boundaries – Bamboo Objects by Industrial Designer Samy Rio
Industrial Designer Samy Rio has spent many years researching the uses of bamboo in industrial applications, trying to manipulate this material and use it to his advantage.
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Defying Gravity – Bamboo Mobile Sculptures by Laurent Martin-Lo
Work by Laurent Martin-Lo, a British sculptor who uses his deep knowledge on the properties of bamboo to create tension, weight and movement in his hanging sculptures.
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Wa – The Essence of Japanese Design Book Now Available in OEN Shop
A beautiful book that focuses on everyday objects and interior design elements, 250 to be exact that help examine the intricacies of Japanese design and craft.
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Organic Bamboo Sculpture by Shouchiku Tanabe
Artist Shouchiku Tanabe’s goal is to succeed the generations that came before him by producing traditional Japanese bamboo works, but at the same time creating bold sculpture.
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Bamboo Baskets by Junko Iwata
A material that’s of high interest to me is bamboo, it’s not something that I have experience with personally, but I have seen a number of craftsman use it to good effect over the years. The Japanese have been able to harness bamboo in a number of ways, it’s played a big architectural role in Japan for example, also being adapted for the kitchen in terms of cutlery and tools, basically if you have a little know-how you can dream up all sorts of …
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Furniture and Functional Objects by TEORI
It was a nice surprise to find this Japanese company named TEORI this week, they’re producing some superb items that also have a nice story and concept behind them. TEORI was founded in 1998 as a manufacturer of wood products in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. They specialise in making modern design objects out of bamboo, an eco-friendly material that grows much quicker than wood. Not only that, it’s also very …
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Bamboo Art by Hajime Nakatomi
I spent a little time this morning researching bamboo art and its origins, as expected I discovered some amazing facts and learnt quite a lot on the subject. This art reminds me of architecture in a lot of ways, but just at a much much smaller scale. Structurally it’s absolutely brilliant and there’s no better example in my opinion than Japanese maker Hajime Nakatomi. Just check out the details in the above picture, it’s crazy …
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Bamboo Cutlery by Saya Okihara and Kazuho Shimomoto
You’ve probably noticed my little fascination with wooden objects as of late, I’m embarking on a small project myself which will involve me making wooden spoons and cutlery. Actually, I ordered a couple of books off Amazon Japan last week which arrived yesterday, both are by an author named Nishikawa Takaaki, ones about handmade spoons and utensils and the other one is based on …
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Short Film on Chifuyu Enomoto
I felt a little guilty for missing out on the second instalment of the Made in Brooklyn series this morning, so I’ve been on the hunt for a film this evening as a means to make amends. Given we don’t like to regurgitate content here I felt it was best to wait and see what else was around, so with this project highlighting the craft of Japanese creative Chifuyu Enomoto I’m confident this was worth the wait. Throughout the platform it’s …
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