Takeo×Wakabayashi Butsugu MFG

Paper Altar

29
dates
Wed.May.29,2024 - Sun.Jun.23,2024
hours
11：00 - 18：00
location
TAKEO Yodoyabashi MIHONCHO

“Paper Altar” is a new joint project by Takeo, a specialized paper trading firm that has contributed to the advancement of paper culture by developing and offering fine paper of high-quality texture and color, and Wakabayashi Butsugu Manufacturing, a long-established business that produces and sells household Buddhist altars and fittings in Kyoto, the capital of Japanese traditional crafts. For this first collaboration, two designers have been selected: Haruka Misawa, who is involved in design work in graphics and many other fields, and Koichiro Oniki, an architect who works on a wide range of designs, from commercial spaces to artwork. Unconstrained by the idea of religion, Misawa and Oniki reflected on the spiritual condition that leads to prayers, the act of praying, and the way people live their lives naturally with love for the deceased. Based on such reflection, each of the designers explored possible shapes and textures of paper, a material that comes in many varieties. The resulting designs for the project depict the relationship between paper and prayer in their own ways.

“white cube” by Haruka Misawa

“KAI” by Koichiro Oniki

Artist Profile

Haruka Misawa

Designer, Director of the Misawa Design Institute, Nippon Design Center, Inc., and Associate Professor at the Science of Design Department, Musashino Art University Misawa was born in Gunma Prefecture in 1982. After graduating from the Industrial, Interior and Craft Design Department, Musashino Art University, Misawa worked at a furniture manufacturer and a design office before joining the Hara Design Institute, Nippon Design Center, Inc. In 2014, she started the Misawa Design Institute. Through an experimental approach, Misawa continues her attempts to observe the principles that lie behind things and visualize the unknown possibilities she discerns from those principles.

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Koichiro Oniki

Architect and designer Born in Tokyo in 1977, Oniki spent his childhood in the U.K. After studying architecture at Waseda University, he worked for Nikken Sekkei Ltd., a comprehensive architectural design firm, before joining nendo, Inc., where he supervised domestic and overseas space design projects for 10 years as Chief Director. In 2015, he set up Oniki Design Studio. As a class-1 architect, Oniki covers a wide range of activities, mainly in the fields of architecture, interior design, and exhibition space design.

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Gallery

TAKEO Yodoyabashi MIHONCHO

TAKEO Yodoyabashi MIHONCHO is a paper specialty store run by Takeo Co., Ltd., a specialized paper trading firm established in 1899. With a stock of over 4,600 types of fine paper and paper products, this store offers advice on choosing paper from a wide selection. Through paper, design, and printing, it creates new encounters for customers.

1F Yodoyabashi odona, 4-1-1 Imabashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka City
541-0042

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