From December 26 to January 6, 2015, a collaboration between Danish flower artist Nicolai Bergmann and traditional Japanese craftsmen will be held at Isetan Shinjuku Men's Building. The event will take place in the men's promotion space on the first floor. The building's 2015 New Year's theme is "Tradition and Innovation." The event will feature a cross-cultural collaboration between Nicolai's flowers, which incorporate traditional Scandinavian style while respecting Japanese aesthetics, and Kyoto-based traditional craftsmen Kaikado, Kanamitsuji, and Kochosai Kosuga. Kaikado, a 140-year-old company that produces Japan's oldest handmade tea caddies, each requiring over 130 steps of crafting, will offer a copper precious box (¥32,000 each) featuring Nicolai's preserved flower arrangements, as well as a copper flower vase (¥100,000). Takahiro Yagi, the sixth-generation owner of the store, says, "We want to continue the tradition of crafting products that can be used for a lifetime and create new products that go beyond tea canisters."
Kanamami Tsuji is a long-established Kyoto wire mesh manufacturer that makes tofu scoops, tea strainers, grill nets, and more, and its origins date back to the Heian period. For this collaboration with Nikolai, they have prepared a copper wave basket and created a piece (50,000 yen) featuring Nikolai's preserved flowers. Other items on sale include a copper coffee spoon (12,000 yen) and an octagonal tofu scoop (4,700 yen).
Kochosai Kosuge was founded in 1898 and has earned high praise both at home and abroad for its practical items made from bamboo, a material that has long been loved in Japan. The venue will also sell Nikolai's fresh flowers arranged in a bamboo basket (10,000 yen), a 7.18cm square two-tiered box (7,000 yen), and a Moso bamboo flower vase (13,000 yen).
An Isetan buyer said, "(Through this event) we hope to convey 'new value' from Isetan Men's Building that can be passed on to the next generation by incorporating new elements while cherishing the worldview created by Japan's ancient traditional crafts, and we hope that our customers will also feel that."
