LEXUS design award 2013 porcelain origami by hitomi igarashi

LEXUS design award 2013 – ‘porcelain origami’ by hitomi igarashi – paper mouldimage © LEXUS

‘making porcelain with origami’ is 1 of the 12 winning projects in the LEXUS design award competition, organized in collaboration with designboom. using paper to perform the casting enables free form production and thinner porcelain than before. this technique gives rise to new possibilities for porcelain.

LEXUS design award 2012 – ‘porcelain origami’ by hitomi igarashi – ceramic bowls obtained from circular paper mouldsimage © LEXUS

with an international jury consisting of pritzker prize recipient toyo ito, paola antonelli, aric chen, jaime hayon, designboom and LEXUS president kiyotaka ise, the designers of two of the winning entries were given the chance to create prototypes of their designs with one of the two assigned mentors – junya ishigami and sam hecht.

japanese architect junya ishigami with finalist hitomi igarashiportrait © designboom

working alongside junya ishigami, japanese designer hitomi igarashi conceived of ceramic objects by casting porcelain into different shapes of paper – creating unique free-forms. thinner than conventional slip-cast methods, the technique introduces new ways of working with the ceramic material.

LEXUS design awards – ‘porcelain origami’ by hitomi igarashivideo courtesy LEXUS

hitomi igarashiimage © designboom