Woodworker Makoto Sasaki greeted us at a closed-down school nestled in the vast nature of Hokkaido, about a 30-minute drive from Obihiro in the heart of the Tokachi Plain. He works here with his father, the founder of the woodturning studio Tokachi no Ki no Utsuwa.
Inside the school building were stacks of timber waiting to be transformed into wooden plates and bowls. There were mountains of whole logs and heaps of “blanks” carved halfway and left sitting.
“We can’t do the carving in one go, because the wood shrinks and changes shape. That’s why we take our time. We buy the logs and then leave them to dry for at least two or three years, sometimes as long as over a decade.”
Woodturning is done in three steps: rough carving, hollowing out, and finishing. After each step, the workpiece is allowed to sit and dry to prevent distortion. It takes an incredibly long time to make wooden tableware. Sasaki sources his wood right here in Tokachi and the wider Hokkaido area. He uses over 30 tree species, including sen (Kalopanax pictus), Japanese elm (Ulmus davidiana var. japonica), Amur cork tree (Phellodendron amurense), and Japanese pagoda tree (Styphnolobium japonicum).
“The beauty of wooden tableware lies in the unique grain patterns. Plus, it’s break resistant and lightweight, and it has a pleasant aroma.”
Sasaki understands the characteristics of the various trees and exchanges dialogue with the wood as he gives shape to the plates and bowls. The sound of his turning lathe echoed through the hallways of the former school.
＜ PAPERSKY no.57（2018）＞
