Chifuyu ENOMOTO
BAMBOO BASKETS FOR FLOWERS

“The hand bends the bamboo. The resilience of the bamboo resists the hand’s strength. Each shape evolves in a play between these two opposing forces. One has always to come to terms with tension and elasticity. If I bend the bamboo too much, it snaps; if I bend it too little, the shape loses its stability. Only my fingers can tell me how far to go. In the beginning I calculate everything exactly in my head. But there are many things I get to know only with my fingertips. During the working process it also happens that the form deviates from the original plan. Shapes constructed by bending bamboo have their own inherent and consequential logic.”

Flexible and elastic, and at the same time firm and hard: the unity of these two properties, which are so difficult to integrate, has made bamboo one of the most important constructive materials in Asia for thousands of years. Today, synthetic industrial materials have replaced bamboo. And the craft of bamboo-making in Japan is no longer about utensils and tools for daily life, but has become an exquisite form of art.

Chifuyu Enomoto is one of the few bamboo artisans in Japan who follows both paths at same time: making baskets for daily use and creating highly elaborate artistic works. For this show we asked him to make many baskets suitable for flowers. There will be more than 40 different baskets on display. When the summer starts to get really hot in Kyoto, and you can hear the sounds of the Gion Festival all over town, please visit us and enjoy the refreshing and cooling energy of these bamboo flower baskets.

OPEN SESSION & WORK SHOP
During the exhibition there will be two events.

On Sunday July 8 from 10:00
flower masters Taninaka Masamichi and Mariko will decorate the gallery and the baskets with flowers in an open session. Please feel free to join, no reservation is required.

On Saturday July 14, 14:00 – 16:00
Taninaka Masamichi and Mariko will hold a workshop concerning “Flowers and bamboo baskets.” This is limited to eight persons.
Fee: JPY 8,000 per person (including the cost of flowers).
Please call or mail us.

tel  +81.75.254.7533　mail@nichinichi.com

榎本千冬｜CHIFUYU ENOMOTO
was born in 1950 in Sagamihara (Kanagawa prefecture). After graduating in 1979 from the College of Bamboo Craft in Beppu (Oita prefecture), he opened his own workshop in Wajima, a center of Japanese lacquer art. One of his special techniques is the use of lacquered bamboo strips. For this technique Enomoto was awarded several prizes at major craft exhibitions in Japan. Since 1989 he has taught the use of bamboo in lacquer art at the National College of Lacquer Art in Wajima. Today he lives and works in his remote workshop on the outskirts of Kanazawa (Ishikawa prefecture).