Sensitive Wall Covering Panels
● Gaining Attention at a Trade Fair in Paris
Tomioka Shoten, a manufacturer and seller of kaba-zaiku (art crafts using wild cherry bark) based in Kakunodate, Semboku City, commercialized this product last year. It won the 2024 “Wood Design Award” by the Japan Wood Design Association. In January this year, the panel was exhibited at “Maison & Object,” one of Europe’s largest interior design trade fairs held in Paris, garnering attention from the interior design industry both in Japan and abroad.
The original interior panels were born from a collaboration between Hiroki Tomioka, the president of Tomioka Shoten, who aims to showcase new appeal in kaba-zaiku, and Mauricio Clavero Kozlowski, a designer based in France.
● Proposal from a French Designer
President Tomioka, who has been actively expanding overseas—including becoming an official supplier for the French luxury brand Christian Dior—has been breathing new life into kaba-zaiku, a traditional craft dating back to the Edo period, by combining it with elements like magewappa (bent woodware).
During a business trip to France, he met and formed a decade-long friendship with Mauricio Clavero Kozlowski, who proposed incorporating kaba-zaiku into interior materials two years ago. Upon hearing the idea, Tomioka immediately felt, “this is it.”
For the creation of general kaba-zaiku, such as tea caddies, bark with a beautiful grain, not too thick, and glossy when polished was preferred. Large amounts of bark which could not meet these requirements were stocked in warehouses. The idea came to us while we were looking for ways to utilize this unused wood.
● Honoring Hard Work
“Harvesting the bark is hard labor that requires climbing trees. To honor the efforts of the workers, we needed a way to use all the harvested bark without waste,” says Mr. Tomioka.
What gave him an extra push was a book by renowned graphic designer Kenya Hara, who is also known for designing the packaging for “Sakihokore” rice. A line in the book struck him: “The beauty of nature is most evident when contrasted with man-made structures like architecture.” This inspired him to use the more rustic, unrefined bark—previously unused—for the new panel material.
The design responsibilities were, of course, handled by Mr. Kozlowski. During his visit to Kakunodate two years ago, he toured the samurai residences and the Kaba-zaiku Denshokan (Cherry Bark Craft Museum), and was inspired by themes of “samurai” and “armor.” Eight pattern designs influenced by these motifs are featured in the product catalog.
The panels are made to order and can be sized flexibly. The base model (90 cm wide by 180 cm tall) is priced in the 700,000 to 800,000 yen range. They have already been used for decoration in European brand stores and hotels in Tokyo, and inquiries continue to come in from interior design firms and other professionals.
● Breathing New Life into Tradition
Kaba-zaiku is a craft that has continued since the Edo period. In The Way of Kab-azaiku, Muneyoshi Yanagi, founder of the Mingei (folk craft) movement in the late Taisho era who also mentored artisans in Kakunodate, described kaba-zaiku as “a craft founded on superior materials” and noted that “it is customary to produce mainly small items.”
Now, in the Reiwa era, a new type of interior panel has been born—infusing the beauty of nature into inorganic architectural spaces. Carrying the spirit of SDGs by ensuring that no precious material goes to waste, these panels may well represent a fresh breeze that reaches across time, breathing new life into the teachings of the “father of the Mingei movement.”