Hiyoshiya Creates Modern Lamps Modeled After Traditional Japanese Umbrellas

With over 150 years of experience manufacturing <em>Wagasas</em> (traditional Japanese umbrellas), family-run <a href="http://www.wagasa.com">Hiyoshiya</a> creates contemporary products that fit into any modern context. Their beautiful, functional and sustainable designs keep this important craft alive using green materials like bamboo wood and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/dcs-corp-shows-off-their-enchanting-washi-cloud-lamps-at-icff/">washi</a> paper. Last week I had the chance to visit <a href="http://www.wagasa.com">Hiyoshiya</a> in Kyoto and talk with Kotaro Nishibori, president of the company and 5th generation of the family - read on for our exclusive feature!

Using green materials like bamboo wood and washi paper, Hiyashiya’s products are beautiful, functional and sustainable.

Kotaro Nishibori, president of the company got involved in his wife’s family business in order to help it survive. He learned the thousand-year history, manufacturing evolution and cultural importance of Wagasas in Japan, and began thinking of new ways to apply this unique value of Hiyashiya into contemporary products.

Working closely with designers, Hyoshiya developed Kotori, a collection of pendant and floor lights that are manufactured using the same materials and craft techniques the company has mastered for more than a century.

Hiyoshiya is a great example of how innovation and tradition can work together to create products that have a cultural, emotional and sustainable value.

Moto is also assembled at Hiyoshiya in Kyoto, and has joined the success of the Kitori collection winning several design awards like Japan’s prestigious Good Design Award.

The Moto lamp, designed in collaboration with renowned Japanese designer Kazushige Miyake, is a light whose shade changes shape by lowering or raising a central ring.

This lamp uses the framework of a modern umbrella to open or close its mechanism, creating different light intensities.

Kotori lamps keep the essence of Wagasas in designs that fit in contemporary spaces.

The Kotori lamps became an instant success that drove Hiyashiya to expand into special projects and collaborations.

The foldable mechanism allows them to be easily stored and compactly shipped.

Although the company has rebuilt itself as a producer of contemporary interior products, it has continued to produce traditional products side by side, fulfilling their mission to maintain this craft alive.

Using sustainable materials like bamboo, paper, and house-made tapioca glue, their designs are thoughtlessly green.

Kotori lamps became an instant success that drove Hiyashiya to expand into special orders working closely with architects and interior designers in Japan.

Hiyashiya’s Kotori collection of lamps is hand-made in their small studio in Kyoto by a team of 4 skilled craftsmen that work closely with local suppliers.

There are 3 main elements of the traditional Japanese umbrella reinterpreted in Hiyoshiya's lamps: it’s bamboo frame, folding mechanism and the warm atmosphere created when light shines through the Washi paper.

Kotaro Nishibori is an intelligent businessman that understood that the best way to move forward is to look back in history.

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