The new exhibition at London's Japan House celebrates the intricate art of Japanese carpentry, featuring various jointing techniques and traditional crafts. Curated by Nishiyama Marcelo from the Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum, it highlights the spiritual significance and responsibility of carpenters, especially when using ancient trees. With numerous hand-crafted items on display, including a scale model of the Yakushi-ji temple segment, the exhibition emphasizes sustainability and the importance of designing for longevity in modern construction amidst ongoing discussions on carbon usage in the industry.
It is a dazzling display of the phenomenal skills behind centuries of timber architecture and joinery, celebrating elite master carpenters with the spiritual reverence of a high priesthood.
As debates around the embodied carbon of the built environment dominate the construction industry, there could be no more timely exhibition to remind us of the importance of designing with longevity, care and repair in mind.
In Japan we have a deep respect for our forests, says curator Nishiyama Marcelo, who heads up the team at the Takenaka Carpentry Tools Museum in Kobe.
Fifty hand-carved wooden pieces go into assembling just one roof bracket. It looks like a game of black-belt-level Jenga.
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