Dismantled
Bizen Pottery Gallery
wallpaper

For a long time, there was a gallery specializing in Bizen ware next to my shop. The owner is much younger than me, has good taste, and is very skillful. He has beautifully transformed the veranda, paved with stones and decorated with greenery, into a small garden, and the plain white walls into a sophisticated space using wallpaper with an effective use of brown and gray. And he did it all himself. He is one of the few business associates who has called out to me every time Omotesando has turned into a ghost town, such as after 3/11, the nuclear accident, and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. In late autumn 2020, the Bizen ware gallery suddenly announced that it was moving. The new location he chose was an old house in Kyoto.

A month after the announcement, the same hands that had renovated the store were steadily tidying up, and the elegant, relaxed space, which suits Bizen ware well, had returned to being an ordinary one-room apartment, as if nothing had happened.
"All that's left now is to throw this away and go to Kyoto," he said, and at the very last moment, I found a small pile of remaining items in the middle of my one-room apartment, and feeling it would be a shame to throw them away, I gratefully took the lacquered tray and this wallpaper that I now use in my shop.

Rather than being remnants, they are actually remaining pieces, but as they are said to be carefully made wallpaper by a craft manufacturer, the complex expression created by the two colors, silver and brown, asserts that they are a one-of-a-kind piece.
The matte brown color is probably persimmon tannin. After the silver foil is applied, an extra step is taken to expose the brown base color.
The support is made of thick Japanese paper and is very sturdy, with no creases or folds. If you use natural glue, it seems like it can be reused over and over again, and it seems like it could be used as a material other than just wallpaper.

Buildings about to be demolished, or sometimes houses in the process of being demolished, are also important work places for secondhand bookstores. Every time I enter such a site, I want to simply keep what can be used alive, without any big pretensions about "sustainability". However, in reality, in most cases, already-established schedules and cost calculations take priority, and there is no time or mental leeway left. How many times have I left such excellent work, fittings, furnishings, glass, handles, etc., on the site, knowing that they would be destroyed, knowing that they would never be recovered?
Recently, there has been a movement in which teams have begun to collect unwanted items, furniture, and salvageable materials from houses before they are demolished, and release them on the reuse market, but it is unfortunate that second-hand bookstores do not seem to be joining in at the moment.

I have talked, half jokingly and half seriously, about turning "House Closing" into a project at FRAGILE BOOKS. If this wallpaper proves useful to the next person, then maybe the "half serious" "House Closing Project" will turn into "100% serious". Just kidding.
Last but not least, Mr. Ito of the Bizen Pottery Gallery, the owner of the souvenir, is doing more and more business in his old house in Kyoto. This time, he has a real small courtyard garden. I'm jealous.

Text by Masago Sato

Price: Please refer to the image and let us know the type you would like.

〈A〉¥8,800 -
<B>¥8,800 -
〈C〉¥8,800 -