2017 | cypress and sakura wood, plexiglass, stainless steel | shaving, gluing | 35×3.5×65cm

Wood-shaving is a wall piece inspired by the Japanese carpentry technique kigumi and the overlooked beauty of wood shavings. The idea was sparked by my visit to the Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum in Kōbe, where visitors can experience the scent and texture of shavings from different kinds of wood. What is usually regarded as waste revealed itself to me as something delicate and full of potential.

The work consists of a frame filled with many layers of thin shavings, creating a structure that changes with distance: from afar it appears like a flat painting, while up close it reveals depth and carries the fragrance of fresh wood.

This work expresses a feeling I had at the time: when you enter a completely different culture, many things may seem unfamiliar or even strange at first. Yet as you get to know them more deeply, they reveal surprising and moving qualities that you might not have noticed otherwise. Just as with this piece, what first appears flat opens up into unexpected depth.

If a viewer, unable to resist, reaches out to touch the surface, the work has fulfilled its purpose. I believe that we often perceive more through our hands than through our eyes, and that spontaneous touch is an inseparable part of this work’s concept.

photo: archive