sori – 反

Urushi lacquer is applied as an additive element — something that enhances and adds value — and so the form is normally shaped in advance on the base material side. When urushi dries and cures, the lacquer surface contracts, generating a powerful shrinking force on the material itself. This is ordinarily a phenomenon to be avoided, but by turning it to advantage, I came to wonder whether it might be possible to create objects whose form is determined by the lacquer’s own nature. By intentionally preparing wood sliced to an extremely thin sheet and applying lacquer to one side only, I chose to embrace this “force of urushi shrinkage” and entrust the shaping to a natural phenomenon — resulting in the unique, organically formed shape of a bowl. By carefully selecting the thickness and coverage of lacquer application, variations in technique, species of wood, the choice of face grain versus back grain, and the direction of the wood grain, I introduced gradations of tension and movement, aiming for a richer expression that is distinctly true to the character of urushi.