mymodernmet.com: Tatami mats have been a part of Japanese homes for centuries. Once reserved for nobility, they became a standard part of traditional homes in the 17th century. While today tatami mats aren't quite as common, one man is taking tradition and transforming it into art. Kenze Yamada is a tatami artist who creates incredible images with his mats. Working out of a specialty store in Gifu prefecture, he's been commissioned by hotels and temples across Japan to bring his signature look to their floors.
3 comments:
While I’ve heard of and seen tatami mats before, I’ve never seen them formed and designed in this way to create an image. Yamada’s work is so exact and smooth, and gives a very luxurious look to the room the mats are in. My favorites are the dragon and the layered circles; the circles look playful yet calming with the various muted tones. I love the idea of using the small hexagonal pieces to create different images. It’s also impressive how Yamada was able to incorporate significant numbers of pieces in the dragon floor, representing the achievement of nirvana and the afterlife. Watching his Youtube video, it is clear he is very organized in his fabrication process to make sure all the small, intricate pieces lock together and fit with the addition of the straw. The fact that it took four months to create the dragon shows how much work goes into making these complex designs.
Wow! This flooring is absolutely incredible especially, especially when you realize that the entirety of it is made of dried straw. What I found especially interesting is how Yamada decided to stop working in his old field to take up Tatami making. While his family already had Tatami shop, it is still a very difficult craft to master especially when its been perfected and mastered for centuries before. Yet, Yamada’s spin on the traditional art form is absolutely incredible. I have always been impressed when people are able to take historic art forms and re-invent them. Historical Tatami is very beautiful, but also very simplistic, yet Yamada’s work is nothing but complex and intricate. I love that Yamada also incorporated historic symbolism like the dragon and even the added the detail of having 108 pieces of Tatami making up the face. 108 is a sacred number meaning the number of earthly temptations one much overcoming to reach nirvana. I love that Yamada was able to incorporate such important symbolism within his pieces, and that that symbolism is not just what is depicted but also in the craft and Tatami tile number.
This is such beautiful and skillful artwork, and the amount of time and precision this must have taken is incredible. I wanted to note that I am currently typing this sitting on the tatami flooring of my grandpa's study haha. Unfortunately, mine is just rectangular tiles. This spin on traditional flooring is quite interesting, and I wonder how older generations would take this. It is mannerful when visiting another person's home, that you do not step on the cracks of the tatami flooring because if you do it is a sign that you are disrespecting their home. I wonder how someone would avoid doing that for this one haha. This is what makes me think that older generations would not appreciate this. Nevertheless, I like it, and I hope that some of his artwork gets preserved in museums rather than just installations for people's homes. The visualizations seen through the video really emphasized the intricacies of Yamada's skills.
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