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In-house design

Material: castor aralia wood, urushi lacquer
Maker: Asada
Region: Ishikawa

Open edition
Edited by ANF

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ANF x Asada


Nuriwake Tray



Working with Yamanaka master artisans, ANF designed a collection of nesting trays that translates the traditional production stages of urushi craft into a contemporary visual system.



     
01. ANF team discussing urushi layer applications with artisans in Yamanaka Onsen.
02. Tools used in wood cutting and shaping.
03. Leftover items and tools.




fig. 1. Map of lacquerware workshops in Yamanaka Onsen.

Unlike lacquerware produced in Kyoto or Wajima, where wood grain is traditionally hidden beneath multiple layers of lacquer, Yamanaka lacquerware is defined by the deliberate exposure of the wood grain. This specificity provided the starting point for a project in which intentional material expression becomes a key element of the visual structure.

Through repeated visits and discussions with local artisans, from woodturners to urushi specialists, ANF observed how workshops often present their craft through samples and unfinished objects, each revealing a distinct stage of production. These intermediary states, which make visible the technical density and labour involved in the transition from raw wood to stratified, glossy surfaces, are usually erased in the finished item. This observation led ANF to question whether these stages could appear in the final design itself.

04. Tools and samples revealing stages of urushi production.

In Yamanaka, artisans typically begin with a turned wooden base, often sourced from forests in Hokkaido, before applying successive layers of jinoko (fired diatomaceous earth), fuki-urushi (wiped lacquer), and finally coloured urushi, traditionally black, red, or bengara; each layer serving either a structural or visual function.




05. Wooden bowl after several applications of jinoko (fired diatomaceous earth).
06-09. Wooden blocks left to dry in temperature-controlled rooms.




fig. 2. Diagram illustrating wood-cutting orientation (kidori) in lacquerware production.


fig. 3. Wood turning and hollowing process used in the preparation of lacquerware bases.

Partnering with Asada, a local workshop producing both traditional and contemporary lacquerware, ANF developed a collection that consolidates these stages into a single system. Five key production phases were identified and distributed across a series of nesting trays, from a piece showing a single finishing stage (Nuriwake 1) to one encompassing the full sequence (Nuriwake 5).

10. Early prototypes developed to showcase key production phases.


Based on an Edo-period tray of unknown origin, the large Nuriwake 5 design was extended into three additional formats, maintaining everyday usability while decomposing the lacquer process across the collection. Read as a sequence, each tray gradually makes more stages of production legible.

Through this sequential reading, the collection foregrounds the material and technical reality of urushi making. Where traditional lacquerware often aims for surface perfection, the Nuriwake series instead embraces the natural variability of materials and the traces of human labour, making visible the time and work embedded in their production.


Projects



TypeName
Designer


Recollection
New Yukinko
 Edition
Pedestal Furniture
      Luka Yasukawa

Edition
Compra Vase
Baptiste Meyniel

 Recollection
Nuriwake Tray
In-house design

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2026