The miraculous encounter between excellent traditional techniques represented by such cultural heritage of Japan as Aizu lacquerware and printed silk and the refined present-day designs of Kanaé Tsukamoto which go beyond their respective times has led to a revival of the picture scrolls of the Heian period in modern form. The efforts to create a world of high quality and refinement based on the exquisite sense of beauty and sensitivity embodied by BITOWA products have achieved success through collaboration with Chiso, a long-standing manufacturer of Kyo-yuzen (printed silk) based in Kyoto. The products of the Interior Series "GENJI" which symbolises a new world of beauty marvellously express the motif of the intimate but often agonizing relationship between Hikaru Genji and Murasaki-no-ue who are the two main characters in The Tale of Genji, an unrivalled classic novel written by Murasaki Shikibu.
Each item of "GENJI" has a special meaning. A set of large and small stools figuratively represents Hikaru Genji and Murasaki-no-ue and the image of their meeting over a table is embodied in a design which features such symbolic flowers of Japan as cherry and paulownia blossoms. The modern form created by the sensitivity of Kanaé Tsukamoto is the very essence of BITOWA which represents the refined harmony of modern times.
The Heian Period in which The Tale of Genji was written was a period in which the originality of Japanese beauty was firmly established by the harmonisation of a new culture coming from the Tang Dynasty in China and Japan's indigenous culture. There is a sense of inevitability of the fusion of traditional techniques of more than 400 years of age which are embodied in Aizu lacquerware and the Kyo-yuzen, printed silk of Kyoto and the beauty of the traditional culture of the Heian Period.
We sincerely hope that you will much enjoy the outstanding beauty born from the meeting between the fine coating of Aizu lacquerware and the original liberal designs of the Kyo-yuzen and also between the excellent skills of their craftsmen.
* Cooperator for furniture production: MINERVA