In the aftermath of the Japanese tsunami of 2011, Kengo Kuma and Associates, one of the world’s most exciting and revered architecture and design firms, launched the East Japan Project. The project aims to revive the traditional crafts and support the traditional craftspeople of the East Japan Area, especially the Tohuko region, which was particularly affected by tsunami.
But the project’s aim is not simply a short-term focus on recovering ‘traditional craft’ industries and producers affected by the tsunami. Locally made products were in decline in the region, as they are across Japan and the world. Rather than rebuild the ‘traditional handicrafts” industry to which traditional skills had been relegated, the East Japan Project aims for far more. The tsunami and it’s consequent nuclear disaster gave the East Japan Project founders cause to reflect, and resulted in a vision of a sustainable new lifestyle in which local culture, climate, industry and people are embraced by communities. Supported by interior design heavyweights including The Conran Shop, BALS, Muji and Cibone, the East Japan project embodies a philosophy of life in which we embrace the place in which we live, and a mission to value sustainability and quality over cheap, disposable and damaging mass-produced goods.
The project’s aim is to create new products for every day use that help realize an ecological and sustainable new lifestyle. By bringing iconic designers, retailers and manufacturers together with East Japan’s highly skilled craftspeople, these everyday objects are also functional, innovative and beautiful.
Designed by Japanese interiors retailer FrancFranc, these Kokeshi dolls from Miyagi Prefecture, Daruma papier-mache dolls from Fukushima Prefecture, or Nanbu ironware from Iwate Prefecture are updated with a modern touch to be adopted into daily home utensils.
Kengo Kuma itself designed the Chidori furniture below – a flexible furniture system that can adapt to different uses and life styles. Each modular unit can be connected to from all 6 sides, allowing numerous configurations. One unit consists of 12 timber sticks with special junctions that require highly skilled carpenters in the Tohoku region to produce.
Photo’s courtesy of East Japan Project
Jacqui Loadman
