BUNAKO
Aomori Prefecture
Material: Buna (beechwood)
Shirakami-Sanchi is a mountainous expanse of unspoiled beech forest straddling Aomori and Akita Prefectures that has been registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Sino-Japanese character for buna (beech) combines the radicals for “tree” and “nothing”; as this suggests, beechwood is hard, yet warps easily, so it is unsuited to woodworking and was considered to be of “no use.”In the mid 1950s, however, efforts were launched in Aomori to utilize this abundant resource as a handicraft material by exploiting its flexibility. Beechwood was cut and processed into thin, ribbon-like strips and coiled, which could then be extruded to create various shapes. This is a unique and ecological production technique that generates almost no waste
ブナコ
青森県
素材：橅
青森県から秋田県にかけて広がる白神山地はその雄大な自然が世界遺産にも指定され、橅の原生林が広く生息しています。「橅」は漢字で「木」に「無」と書くように木の性質として、堅く狂いやすく木工芸には向かず、かつて“用無しの木”とも言われてきました。しかし、昭和30年代始め橅材の豊富な青森において、弾力に富んだ特質を活かした工芸を作ろうと発案されました。ブナコは、橅材を細長く薄く整えたテープ上に加工したものをコイル状に巻きながら少しずつスライドする押し出し成型して形状を作ります。木材の無駄がほとんど無く、自然に優しい独特の製法です。
