HIROSAKI KNIFE BOX
Design: Keiji Ashizawa
Director: Hirosaki Chamber Commerce And Industry_Kaname Muratani
Knife production: Nigara Forging Co., Ltd._Toshihisa Yoshizawa
Woodworking: Kimura Woodcraft Factory_Takayuki Kimura
Lacquer: Tsugaru Urushi Spirit_Masato Kimura
Photo: Takumi ota
Hirosaki Knives have been around for approximately 1000 years. They are hand forged in the rural area of Hirosaki, Japan. When asked to collaborate on the design of a specialty knife box for Hirosaki Knives, Keiji Ashizawa choose to craft a stacked, sliding box from timbers of cultural and regional significance - Paulownia wood, which is unique to the history and culture of Japan, and Apple Tree wood, used as railway sleepers throughout Hirosaki, a town famous for apple harvesting in Japan. Hirosaki Knife Box showed at Wallpaper* Handmade 2011 as well as featuring in the publication of the same name.