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Tag: woodwork

Keeping it Simple: New Woodwork by Maeda Mitsuru

By:
Ai Kanazawa
June 21, 2019Wood Maeda Mitsuru

Woodwork by Maeda Mitsuru will be available on June 22nd->

In today’s all consuming social media age, it feels that people would not pay attention to work that doesn’t look dramatic or eye catching. But often the features that make work stand out in appearance comes at the expense of compromising its function.

Simple and thoughtfully designed wood butter case by Maeda Mitsuru
Maeda Mitsuru’s butter case fits most refrigerator door compartments and carries two sticks of “Elgin-style” butter perfectly. The lid is domed so that it does not warp even in the dry climate of a fridge.

So every time I receive work from Japanese woodworker Maeda Mitsuru, I am reminded about his extraordinary ability to stick to making simple and useful wood items.

It is also clear that Maeda-san spends a significant amount of time considering what might improve the user’s experience.

Coffee measuring scoop by Maeda Mitsuru has a short handle that fits inside the palm for easy scooping
Tray made from Japanese walnut by Maeda Mitsuru. The carving on the surface is not just beautiful, but also prevents the items from slipping during transportation.
Japanese oak kitchen stool by Maeda Mitsuru designed to take up minimal space in the kitchen while providing a little resting space for the busy cook

This fall will mark the 14th year since Maeda-san established his studio called Ki-to-te (which means “wood and hand”) in Tokyo, and I feel that his focus is only getting stronger. If you have a day to spare in Tokyo, I encourage you to visit his gallery, which is open most weekends, to see more of his simple and but exquisitely elegant furniture and to meet him, his wife Yumi, and their adorable Shiba dog Moku.

Ki-to-te gallery in Kunitachi, Tokyo and Maeda-san’s Shiba dog Moku

 

 

Woodwork by Jarrod Dahl: “The New Wood Culture” of Connectedness

By:
Ai Kanazawa
December 8, 2018Wood Jarrod Dahl

Woodwork by Jarrod Dahl in our shop ->

Jarrod Dahl is dedicated to creating woodware for daily use and to share its beauty as widely as possible. The woodworker, writer, and teacher from Ashland, Wisconsin says that at the heart of his philosophy is the idea that “good design is tied to utilitarian function.”

Soup noodle spoon designed and made by Jarrod Dahl. His work has marks and textures left on the surface from his hook and knife.

Jarrod’s woodenware and utensils are beautifully designed and honest to use. It is clear from his work that he has admired and researched many forms of woodenware from all over the world. As Yanagi Muneyoshi, the Japanese founder of the Mingei movement also pointed out, “we do not admire work because of the past but because of its enduring present,” Jarrod thinks that good design is timeless.

Jarrod’s noodle spoons are perfect for soup noodles and chunky stews. It was inspired by older style Japanese soup spoon and also remind of old Welsh cawl spoons.

Unlike the contemporary Japanese woodenware that I’m familiar with, which is usually sanded smooth and is pristine, Jarrod’s work has marks and textures left on the surface of the wood from his hook and knife. I found these aspects to be very attractive because I felt that they provided a sense of connectedness to the natural world around us and to the hand of the maker, which is becoming more and more difficult to feel in our increasingly technologically driven lives.

Woodworker Jarrod Dahl turning a wooden mug on a pole lathe
Photo courtesy of Jarrod Dahl

I discovered Jarrod through a YouTube video of him turning a bowl on a pole lathe. A pole lathe is a primitive, foot-powered wood turning machine that uses the spring of a wooden pole to pull a cord that spins the wood being turned. Curious to find out more, I searched his name on the Internet, and found that he also teaches woodworking and spoon carving at Gifu Forest Academy in Japan. I was impressed about his earnestness in learning about woodworking in Japan, which I later found also applied to many other cultures.

Besides creating work, Jarrod spends a significant amount of time teaching woodworking. In 2019, Jarrod will return to Japan to teach, and he is currently fundraising for his trip. In the US, he regularly teaches at the North House Folk School and Port Townsend School of Woodworking. He is especially well known for his popular spoon carving workshops in which students can learn to make a spoon from a greenwood log by using only an axe, a saw, a hook knife, and a straight knife.

A few simple tools used for carving spoons
Photo courtesy of Jarrod Dahl

When I asked the reason for the popularity of the spoon carving workshops, Jarrod observed that it was because “people in our modern world don’t get to use their hands as much as they would like.” Spoon carving can be done even in a small apartment with a few tools, and he said that it “can provide a very rounded experience of creation within the bound of creating something utilitarian.” After teaching abroad many times, Jarrod thinks that people’s desire to make things is universal, and that spoon carving is uniquely rewarding and healing.

Jarrod Dahl carving a spoon at his studio in Ashland, Wisconsin.
Photo courtesy of Jarrod Dahl

In terms of selling woodenware in the US, Jarrod finds it to be quite challenging. As a Japanese growing up regularly using wooden bowls and chopsticks, I was also surprised at how little wood vessels or utensils are used on dining tables in the US, so I asked Jarrod why he thinks this is the case. His view is that because the US was born in the Industrial Revolution era, American people viewed woodenware as from the past that only poor people used. He added that people also came to America to escape that “idea of poverty from their old countries.”

An important part of “The New Wood Culture” is the idea of reconnecting to many aspects of our lives and circumstances through the use of wood

But Jarrod also thinks that nowadays this traditional image of woodenware is slowly changing. He thinks that people are starting to remember the beautiful experience of eating with wood, and the American woodenware world has great potential to become more appreciated. Jarrod calls this “The New Wood Culture,” and he is playing an active role in promoting this wood culture renaissance.

This takes me back to the connectedness that I feel from Jarrod’s work and its significance. I think an important part of “The New Wood Culture” is the idea of reconnecting to many aspects of our lives and circumstances through wood: to our past, future, people, hands, and our natural surroundings. Because when we feel connected, it makes us feel a little more whole, and it’s a wondrous feeling.

Wood vessels by Nakaya Yoshitaka: The Legacy of a Tree

By:
Ai Kanazawa
October 19, 2017Wood Nakaya Yoshitaka

Woodwork by Nakaya Yoshitaka in our shop ->

Woodworker Nakaya Yoshitaka resides in the sprawling foothills of Mt. Fuji in Shizuoka prefecture. Much of the wood he uses is obtained locally, often from families that needed to fell trees on their properties for safety or other reasons.

These trees often have significant meaning for the homeowners because their ancestors may have planted them or they may have played on them when they were children. Nakaya-san feels that by making vessels out of this wood, he is ensuring that the legacy of these trees live on.

Chestnut plate by woodworker Nakaya Yoshitaka
Japanese oak bowl by Nakaya Yoshitaka

Nakaya-san’s wood vessels are shaped before the wood is completely dry and allowed to shrink and warp to provide their distinctive curves. The foot is created after the wood is thoroughly dried to make a leveled bottom. By creating vessels in this way, Nakaya-san thinks that he is letting the wood to speak, and decide the shape that it wants to be.

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