Kakehanaire Vase in Lacquered and Woven Bamboo by Masaichi Ishida

All the timelessness of Japanese craftsmanship in this kakehanaire vase made of lacquered and woven bamboo. In Japan, the kakehanaire is a vase that is hung on a wall or a pillar, often in a tokonoma (the decorative alcove in a Japanese room). It is generally used to place one or two carefully chosen seasonal flowers. Its role is to bring a touch of nature into the space, with lightness and discretion. In a contemporary interior, this vase is a very elegant way to break away from the established framework and showcase plants where you don't expect them.

This kakehanaire vase was created by Kyoto-based Masaichi Ishida, who, at over 85 years old and with a 69-year career, is recognized as an exceptional master craftsman of the fascinating and painstaking work of bamboo basketry. This piece was designed in collaboration with Shigeo Mashiro, founder of the Sfera brand, who brought his contemporary vision to this timeless work.

To create this piece, Ishida san first selected the best bamboo, a plant found everywhere in Japan with many endemic varieties, but only the finest will produce the most beautiful basketwork, so this first selection was key. The cut bamboo is then heated to remove the oil present in its heart, then left to dry. Then begins the slow and extremely tedious work of cutting the bamboo pieces vertically, entirely manually with the help of various very simple tools, including knives, to obtain increasingly thin strips, the challenge being of course to obtain strips of very specific and identical dimensions. A very physical job! He lacquered the strips in a beautiful dark red urushi lacquer, then created the patterns, braiding and bending the different strips using ancestral techniques. Several months of work were necessary.

A unique handicraft for a unique piece, wonderfully decorative, traditional in its heritage but very contemporary in its style, and which fits perfectly into a modern urban universe. Inside the vase, a long removable U-shaped bamboo piece, covered in black urushi lacquer, can be filled with water to accommodate a floral or plant arrangement, from the simplest to the most sophisticated. A piece that will leave no one indifferent and which would have had its place within the beautiful exhibition “Fendre l'Air” (2019) at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris which celebrated the art of bamboo basketry from Japan.