This new lighting assortment delicately illuminates silk threads

Baku Sakashita’s lighting exists on the precipice of furnishings and artwork. The Japanese lighting designer – who based Studio Baku in 2018, exhibited throughout Designart Tokyo the identical yr and was additionally featured in Wallpaper’s Graduate Listing – blends conventional Japanese craftsmanship with modern design to create sculptural, stunning items.

His newest assortment, ‘Haku’, takes this artistry to new heights. On show at Tokyo Midtown Design Stay till 5 November 2025, ‘Haku’ consists of dozens of high quality, delicate silk threads, every solid in refined shades utilizing pure plant-based dyes. This alternative embodies Sakashita’s strategy of reinterpreting Japanese traditions – right here, the traditional artwork of plant dyeing, traditionally employed in kimono making.

Every color inside the assortment carries a story tied to the locations and relationships concerned in sourcing the dyes: the blue comes from Kusagi berries harvested in Kyoto, the gray from shirakashi (Japanese white oak) branches, and the pink from akane (madder root). Past rooting the gathering in Japanese heritage, these components underscore the environmental advantages of plant-based dyes, which regularly make use of supplies that might in any other case be discarded and minimise ecological affect.

In ‘Haku’, the sunshine emanates from ultra-fine LEDs delicately woven inside the silk threads, delivering the modern contact attribute of Sakashita’s work. The fixtures, in the meantime, are crafted from hand-polished stainless-steel, offering a smooth, industrial distinction to the fragility of the silk.

Sakashita’s work is marked by a poetic minimalism that caught our eye again in 2018 with the Suki assortment, which reinterpreted Isamu Noguchi’s traditional ‘Akari’ lamps via suspended geometric kinds crafted from tengujō-washi paper and wire frames, casting intricate, shifting shadows. In ‘Haku’, as in his different collections, Sakashita invitations us to expertise the fantastic thing about custom reimagined via a contemporary lens. His items inform tales – of nature, tradition and craftsmanship – reminding us that the boundary between object and art work is splendidly porous.