It’s both ancient – and modern. The shoji screen, handcrafted using a millennia-old Japanese papermaking technique, is not flat: it gently undulates like a waterfall, the softened geometry of its crafted wooden frame illuminated like shifting daytime skies by hidden LEDs.
This harmony of paper, wood and light is 'Grid Unwoven', the alchemical result of a creative collaboration between Lanzavecchia + Wai, a design studio in Italy and Singapore, and Takanori Senda, a Japanese artisan specialising in ancient Mino Washi papermaking in Gifu Prefecture.
It’s one of six new creations launched in the latest edition of Craft x Tech, an innovative initiative that fuses Japan’s traditional crafts heritage with progressive technology and contemporary design to create new pathways for endangered artisan traditions to thrive in modern times.
The project matches six contemporary international creators with traditional makers in Japan. The inaugural edition two years ago specialised in the northeastern Tohoku region, while the latest collection focuses on the craftsmanship of the central Tokai area.
From tiled chairs and modular tables to rainbow-bright tie-dyed lighting systems, six creations were brought to life by a collection of designers, including David Caon, Philippe Malouin, Bethan Laura Wood, Atang Tshikare, Eugene Studio and Lanzavecchia + Wai.
Mino Yaki, ‘Fushi’
The idea of evolution rather than preservation lies at the heart of Craft x Tech, which is helmed by Hideki Yoshimoto, founder of Tangent design studio and a project associate professor at the University of Tokyo, with curatorial direction by Maria Cristina Didero.
‘Craft x Tech has always been about exploring how Japanese craftsmanship can engage with contemporary culture and design – not simply as preservation, but as an evolving creative practice,’ Yoshimoto tells Wallpaper*.
‘For this Tokai Edition, we were particularly interested in a region where craft and industrial production have historically developed side by side. At the same time, bringing together a wider range of international creatives made for really rich dialogues across different materials, cultures and approaches to making.’
London designer Bethan Laura Wood was immersed in the colourful cosmos of Arimatsu Narumi Shibori, an ancient tie-dyeing craft in Aichi Prefecture, celebrated for its original textures, intricate shading and complex patterns.
Mino Washi, ‘Grid Unwoven’
The result of Wood’s partnership with Hiroyuki Murase of Suzusan, a fifth-generation artisan family, is a textile-wrapped lighting system called ‘Kataginu’ – cascading suspensions of bloom-like textiles, meticulously crafted and organically steeped in exotic bursts of colour patterns.
‘I was struck by all the different ways in which the tying and binding can create complex patterns,’ she says. ‘I knew I wanted to work with a vibrant mix of two colours in conversation and to highlight this bleach-like blur that comes from the reaction between the two dyes, which cannot be overly controlled. This captures the “living” quality of the dye – being active, moving and reacting to the physical placement and folding of the fabric.’
For David Caon, a Sydney-based designer known for his aircraft innovations, the idea of ‘letting go of control’ shaped 'Fushi' – an elegant console and lighting system made from clean-lined modular ceramic components fired in Oribe glaze, creating deep, textured shades of bamboo green.
The components were crafted by Yohei Ito, the third-generation head of Fudogama kiln, specialising in Mino Yaki, a regional ceramics tradition in Gifu Prefecture dating back to the fifth century.
Arimatsu Narumi, ‘Shibori Kataginu’
‘With Mino Yaki objects, part of the beauty of the craft is that every piece becomes quite unique after firing,’ explains Caon. ‘As a designer, there is not the same level of control over the final appearance of the objects that I have with other processes.’
Meanwhile, the industrialist minimalism of British-Canadian designer Philippe Malouin encountered the vividly decorative world of Owari Shippo, a type of enamelware from Aichi Prefecture, resulting in a highlight: the pared-back elegance of ‘Kasane’, stackable boxes with randomly speckled surfaces, their geometry inspired by sculpted conical sand mounds found in Kyoto’s Ginkaku-ji gardens.
Ceramics and chairs are not often juxtaposed, yet Eugene Kangawa of Tokyo-based Eugene Studio innovatively layered the deep indigo beauty of Seto Sometsuke Yaki ceramics with traditional mortise-and-tenon joinery to create a series of chairs, with matching tea vessels.
Clean-lined angles are wrapped sharply in white porcelain tiles hand-painted in indigo pigment, created in collaboration with Mayuki Kato, the fourth-generation head of Shingama kiln in Aichi Prefecture.
Seto Sometsuke, ‘Yaki’ chair
Another highlight was Atang Tshikare’s sculptural dialogue with Iga Kumihimo, braided silk threads in vivid shades, a traditional craft rooted in the natural beauty of Mie Prefecture.
‘Yamollo’ is a lighting work that takes the shape of a layered cascade of Iga cords in earthy tones, shifting from light at the top to dark at the base, hinting at the dynamism of a volcano – brought to life with artisan Tomoyuki Matsuda, fourth-generation CEO of Itogo.
Meanwhile, Lanzavecchia + Wai developed the flowing screen ‘Grid Unwoven’ with Mino Washi master Senda of Warabi Paper Company – pushing the traditional scale to its limits by creating a 2m by 2m screen that flows and curves, with a backlighting system evoking a sense of sky.
And threaded connectively through each of the projects? A sense of possibilities for traditional craft forms that continuously adapt, evolve and explore the boundaries of their potential.
As founder Yoshimoto explains: ‘In the long term, I hope Craft x Tech can become a platform where traditional knowledge and contemporary creativity intersect to generate new possibilities for craft. I see craft not as something static or nostalgic, but as a living body of knowledge that can continue shaping the future of design and culture.’
Owari Shippo, ‘Kasane’
Craft x Tech Tokai Project 2026 Tokyo Exhibition runs at Kudan House in Tokyo from 30 May to 2 June