Silver Bakeware, Tableware, Drinkware and Cookware Design · 2023
Tsuzumi Double Sakazuki
- A' Design Award 2023 Silver Winner in Bakeware, Tableware, Drinkware and Cookware Design
- Awarded April 15, 2023
- CLIENT: Authentic Japan Shunme
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 40,357
- Verification code 45427AF57F · Verify this award
About Tsuzumi Double Sakazuki
Tsuzumi has a symmetrical shape with two cups on either end, and each has a different color. You can use Tsuzumi to serve sake, some kind of strong alcohol, or delicacies, but just displaying it as a piece of art could satisfy you because of its nobility and gracefulness. It harmonizes with almost anything. Normally, makie is applied to the body or the inside bottom, but in the case of Tsuzumi, it is positioned as if it looks peeking out from inside. This is the very essence of Japanese beauty, which is modest but impressive. Layered urushi, tamenuri, creates graceful shades in the cup.
Drawing upon centuries of lacquerwork tradition, Yukino Shunme's Tsuzumi Double Sakazuki represents a sophisticated dialogue between historical craft practices and contemporary design sensibility, transforming the ceremonial sake cup into an object of sculptural presence and cultural resonance. The work takes its distinctive silhouette from the tsuzumi, a traditional hourglass-shaped drum integral to classical theatrical and musical performances, thereby embedding within a functional drinking vessel profound associations with celebration, performance, and ritual gathering. The technical achievement evident in the urushi lacquer surface speaks to extraordinary dedication to traditional finishing methods, wherein multiple layers of tree sap lacquer are applied, dried in controlled humidity, and polished to achieve the remarkable depth and luminosity visible here. The black ground, achieved through techniques refined over generations, creates a surface that simultaneously absorbs and reflects light, suggesting infinite depth while maintaining perfect smoothness. The maki-e ornamentation depicting a fan with flowing tassels demonstrates mastery of gold powder application techniques, each metallic particle precisely placed to create imagery that shimmers with subtle dimensional quality. The copper or gold rim provides elegant transition between the darkness of the lacquer and the space beyond, while also serving the practical function of protecting the lip from wear during use. The bilateral symmetry of the overall form creates visual stability and formal dignity, while the asymmetrical placement of the interior decoration introduces dynamic interest and rewards close examination. The hourglass profile invites contemplation of time and transformation, appropriate themes for a vessel associated with ceremonial occasions marking significant moments. How might the experience of drinking from such a vessel, with its weight, temperature, and visual depth, transform an ordinary act into something approaching ritual significance?
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Tsuzumi has a symmetrical shape with two cups on either end, and each has a different color with makie on it. Normally, makie is applied to the body or the inside bottom, but in the case of Tsuzumi, it is positioned as if it looks peeking out from inside. This is the very essence of Japanese beauty - modest but impressive. You can choose either cup to use according to your preference on the day. Furthermore, the body is polished by a roiro specialist to represent the true black, shikkoku. Tsuzumi can be used to serve sake or delicacies, but just displaying it as a piece of art could satisfy you due to its nobility and gracefulness. It is easy to maintain because there is no angle between faces. Such angles would easily get dirty and deterioration tends to start with those angles.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Materials: Natural Wood, Diatomaceous Earth Powder, Urushi, Gold Powder
Dimensions: Width 65 mm x Depth 65 mm x Hight 100 mm
Package: Packed in a high-quality paulownia box with a piece of natural turmeric-dyed cotton cloth - Tags
- wood, lacquer, nature, japan, culture, decor, tableware, elegant, beautiful, sake, shunme
- Production Technology
- Tsuzumi is handcrafted with totally natural materials, so it is light and has low thermal conductivity, and the curved surface is extremely smooth. Due to such characteristics, you feel pleasant to touch and use it as well as you can enjoy it as an objet d’art. Only the high-skilled turners can work on this item because the finished side, which has been finely carved, must be connected to the turning machine without being damaged. One of the cups is finished in tamenuri that enables you to enjoy not only graceful shades but also its aging with time making its color brighter. It is repairable, so it will always be with you.
- Design Challenge
- Tsuzumi requires highly-skilled artisans through the entire process of production. The characteristic shape and glossy tamenuri finish of Tsuzumi make it laborious for the artisans to complete each of their procedures. They must be the ones who have experiences and intuition for their arts. However, the number of artisans who have skills high enough to be involved in the traditional production process of this kind of shikki has decreased due to the shrinking market. Such shikki will disappear unless the best effort is actively made to make people understand and enjoy the splendor of such shikki. Tsuzumi is designed to play one of the roles of items in the mission.
- Project Duration
- The project started in October 2019 in Toyama and finished in April 2021 in Ishikawa, and was exhibited at National Art Center, Tokyo, in December 2021.
- Operation Flow
- This design enables people to enjoy the item for a lifetime because the more urushi ages, the more transparent it becomes, and because the item is repairable by re-applying urushi or by mending with gold powder and urushi, adding another taste to the item. The item is made with totally natural materials, so it has high affinity with nature, i.e. eco-friendly.
- Research
- Shikki is categorized as traditional craft in Japan and part of them are protected in some ways mainly under one of the ministries of the government - METI. However, the manufacturers and artisans dealing with a certain kind of shikki - 100% from nature - have, in a sense, certain kinds of difficulties. Tools and materials needed for traditional production process tend to have poor distribution, manufacturers and artisans of that kind feel unrewarded with chemical-blended urushi also allowed to be displayed as urushi, for example, and, even in Japan, people generally don’t know true beauty of shikki partly because they don’t have opportunity to appreciate it - such shikki is light and feel pleasant to handle. Materials from nature and artisans’ skills should be in a perfect harmony to produce the beauty in the items for use. Whether in Japan or across the world, such beauty could be one of the examples that are persuasive enough to make people believe that nature, tradition, sustainability and beauty are altogether part of something we love.
In the 1900s, the number of experts and workers involved in the industry has decreased to about one-third from approx. 22,000 at its peak (Yukiharu Yasujima, 'The Decline and Development of Traditional Industries as Seen in Case Studies Focusing on Wajima Lacquerware', Koyo Shobo, 2020). - Inspiration
- I believe that aesthetics of things you use as well as their quality is the crucial element for you to enjoy everyday life and that such aesthetics of shikki requires careful manufacturing with natural materials. That’s the key to the unique gloss of Tsuzumi and the way it feels. With its characteristic shape, Tsuzumi harmonizes with almost any style beyond its origin. It is repairable and sustainable, which means it will always be with you. You would know the beauty and values of shikki when you actually see and touch it. Tsuzumi could be a rising star to spread the splendor of traditional handcrafted items.
Colors of Tsuzumi Double Sakazuki
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G0E26 ShopDesign Interview about Tsuzumi Double Sakazuki
I want my work to be beautiful, comfortable to touch, and easy to clean.
I want to achieve modernity in the tradition. In other words, traditional art should be expressed in a modern form without any compromise.
I would like people around the world to know this shikki design.
I could not remember exactly, but it suddenly came to mind while I was trying picturing something unique.
I definitely decide to pursuit my inspiration.
Though it should be hard for me who is a new comer to this industry, I am producing my work myself. I always think the promotion of my works.
Great fondness for authenticity of the traditional things or anything.
I guess all the things that have persuasiveness and beauty.
Affluent people who love traditionally sophisticated things to use in everyday life.
This design focuses on the beauty that can be realized only through traditional production process with totally natural materials. And also, all the main items of shikki that I have designed so far are easy to clean after using them because they have no corners. Furthermore, they are repairable and one of technical examples to repair is Kintsugi which uses gold powder. The items would artistically reborn getting new expression with Kintsugi applied.
Tsuzumi is Japanese hand drum. I named my design just because of its shape.
Honestly speaking, I did not use no design tools. Just drawing an image and put down the description on a page of Pages on Mac. I want tools for design.
My design is fine to look, to use, and to maintain.
Yes, artisans. Artisans for wooden base, shitaji, urushi, makie, and roiro respectively. They are truly excellent, especially on the point that they are cooperative with my project in spite of the fact that I am an outsider.
Turning machines for Wooden Base and Shitaji might be said as examples. However, my design is enabled by artisans' professional skills which are accumulated on tradition in a sense.
I just wanted to realize my design to see what I wanted to get.
Because this design should be realized in the world of traditional craft, it was a little hard for me to make my design understood and welcomed. However, passing through a few adieus, excellent artisans with an open mind accepted me.
From the start, I have wanted to globally introduce my design, and I found A'Design Competition should be the best one for me.
I have learned that I should not loose my concept even if nobody understand it. Furthermore, I came to know that the artisans want to understand what a designer is trying create, provided that they are the ones who truly have skills to meet the designer's needs as well as an open mind.
I believe this design would make people happy with its appearance and comfortableness for use, and it also makes people, even in Japan, wonder why authentic shikki has been shunned.
Grand Interview about Tsuzumi Double Sakazuki
It is beautiful not only as an object of display but also when put to use. If you drink sake with Tsuzumi, the maki-e embellishment will be right in front of you.
There are two notable points. First, its shape resembles the bajouhai (馬上杯), a tall sake cup used in ancient times for drinking sake while seated on horseback. Second, in old Japan, it was customary on certain occasions for people to share a single sakazuki (sake cup) to exchange sake. While an ordinary sakazuki has a single side, the Tsuzumi has two cups, one on either end. This allows you to enjoy two different colors and also facilitates sharing sake, with each person using a different side of the cup.
To begin with, the body of the wooden base is roughly shaped. Tsuzumi has a symmetrical shape with two cups on either end. The one cup of two is shaped with the surface of the inside finely smoothed using the thin metal blade. The rim is very thin, so the turner uses a koma to work on the delicate line of the rim.Of course, such delicate work requires a blade so delicate and keen that it seems to reflect the turner’s mind. Then, the turner is preparing to carve the other end. Before working on the wooden base, she has to carve one of the adjuster parts, the kottori, to make them fit in well with Tsuzumi. Considering its characteristic shape, this process for Tsuzumi would be especially laborious for the turner. The finished side, which has been finely carved, must be connected using the turning machine without being damaged. The komma and kottori should be tightly fitted and work like one part.The turner uses a finished sample to see if the koma and kottori would fit in well with the wooden base that she is about to work on.The next process is shitaji, followed by lacquer application, kyushitsu, and makie embellishment.
You can appreciate its aging with time making its color brighter. Layered urushi creates graceful shades, typically on the rim. I believe the user want to watch over those changes and spend their lives together with them.
The only answer is to let more people know about the beauty of lacquerware. However, it must be genuine lacquerware to truly deserve that title, which attract more people to make them think they want to get familiar with them.
The only answer is to let more people discover the beauty of lacquerware. However, it must be genuine lacquerware—pieces that captivate people and inspire them to want to connect with it more deeply.
The fusion of flowing curves and simple lines brings a clean and elegant atmosphere. At the same time, this captivating flowing line eliminates sharp angles and corners, which are prone to damage in lacquerware. Similarly, the rich luster of natural lacquer helps prevent dirt from adhering.
Even though I actually drew my own image, it was difficult to convey it accurately. Through parting and meeting with craftsmen, I came to realize the importance of encountering someone who can bring my thoughts into form.
There is no need. It comes naturally on its own. If you remain steadfast in your own vision and are able to realize it, everything will fall into harmony, and the best point of balance will naturally emerge.
I believe that the concept of the eight million gods (yaoyorozu no kami) is deeply embedded in Japanese culture. This idea connects to the value of cherishing things, which in turn leads to the respect for people and others. Techniques like kintsugi, where old items are repeatedly given new life and cherished, reflect a tradition that forms the foundation of a world where people respect one another and each individual can live true to oneself.