kakuzai

A kakuzai mobile

In Japan, a kakuzai, is a squared timber and our artwork made of sueplus materials provided by a factory.  It was exhibited at an upcycle project in association with sevral manufacturers in Saitama.

Tsukiita, a natural wood veneer is applied on the surface of affordable materials to create a product that resembles a valuable natural wood product.  Usually, tsukiita is attached to cover up a surface.  For kakuzai, however, it is simply folded and these blocks in the air remain hollow.

Wood veneer is very thin and light, but since it looks like heavy timber hanging it as mobile creates a kind of suspense in space. The fragile material is well suited to being used as mobile as they are not handled frequently.  Kakuzai is the result of turning three-dimensional objects into planes and planes into three-dimensional objects.