Referential to the Matain of Urasenke, the tearoom of one of the main schools of Japanese tea ceremony, I was in charge of the paper production for the shoji, fusuma, and koshibari of the tea room, which were made with materials and techniques from Okinawa. The textures of the unvarnished and sumi-dyed bashoshi paper harmonize with other materials unique to Okinawa, thus creating a one-of-a-kind tea room.

Situated in an old-fashioned village, the guesthouse was originally a private residence built to house the Buddhist altar of the ancestors. Ito-basho, cherished and familiar to the people of Okinawa since long ago, is made into paper and then used to carefully wrap the entire Buddhist altar.

Nestled in the forest of Nakijin, this guesthouse is available to only a single group a day. I was in charge of making the paper for the shoji screens at the reception where the guests are first welcomed, as well as for constructing the inner doors and shelves.
The paper is made of kozo, onto which threads of basho were sprinkled that the owner had inherited from a basho textile craftsman. A space where the beauty of the materials stands out in soft natural light.

I was in charge of the paper application on to the koshikabe clay wall, that references the shape of a traditional Japanese armor, also including the door to the restroom. Depending on the angle of the basho paper, the fiber of the basho has a sheen that emphasises the texture of the material. After applying the paper, a glass coating was added to make it water repellent and stain resistant.

This long-established lacquerware shop has a history of over 120 years. I was commissioned for the development and installation of display furniture for the new store in Shuri. In order to highlight the lacquerware on display, I used a simple Kozo paper lightly dyed with sumi-ink and added small amounts of fiber of Ito-basho, which is a material unique to Okinawa.