2019 | Interdisciplinary Collaboration

How can traditional crafts and local knowledge inspire new technological aesthetics? Based on the original method of Sekishu Washi, designers and artisans developed an electrically conductive paper. As part of a shoji-inspired paravent, this smart material forms a large sensor: At the touch of a hand, areas start to glow, pulse or change the hue of light.

During an 2019 AIR in Shimane (Japan), Jonas Althaus had the chance to tie in with the 1500 year old UNESCO cultural heritage of sekishu washi paper making. How to deal with such craft heritage today – conserve or update? In Japanese architecture, handmade paper was once widely used to build shoji paper walls (famous for their interplay with natural light), but lost its popularity in modern homes, which more and more buries the handed down knowledge in oblivion.

In close collaboration with the craftsmen Cream on Chrome worked on an unorthodox addition to the original paper recipe: Enriched with conductive supplements like carbon strands the hand crafted sheets turn into sensors receptive to touch, proximity or air-humidity.

In the design of ‘Sensory Washi Paravent’, the conductive washi covers the whole surface, allowing users to feel the unique softness of Japanese paper – and to trigger a response: At the touch of a hand, areas start to glow, pulse or change the hue of light. Such spectacles refer to the traditional beauty of daylight diffusing through shoji walls. Through its development and use of a hand-made smart material, this work explores new technological aesthetics based on traditional crafts and local knowledge.

Sensory Washi paper connects old tradition to futuristic applications. In Japanese architecture, handmade paper was once widely used (to build paper walls shoji, famous for their interplay with natural light), but lost its popularity in modern homes. In 1933, the Japanese writer Junichiro Tanizaki pondered over the painful loss of traditional aesthetics, of century-old living concepts which were replaced because technological progress seemingly called for modernist (=Western) shapes, materials and design paradigms (In Praise of Shadows, Tanizaki 1933).

It would be interesting to hear Tanizaki’s evaluation of “high-tech” living environments today: Seemingly smart or connected homes which perform an impressive amount of digital tasks – yet fail to enrich their inhabitants on a sensual level close to that of bygone times:
“No words can describe that sensation as one sits in the dim light, basking in the faint glow reflected from the shoji, lost in meditation or gazing out at the garden”.
Regarding contemporary architecture and interior design with Tanizaki’s eyes, it becomes clear that the profound knowledge in craftsmanship about the interplay of light, textures and colors once present in Japanese interiors deserves a revaluation. Can these seemingly outdated production processes bring back material richness, sensuality and hand crafted products to our future homes?

This project was supported by MONO Japan AIR program.
In collaboration with Sekishu Washi Center Misumi Hamda, sekishu washi workshops Kubota and Nishida