A torii shrine imagined as if grown from salt crystals—sacred and decaying.
Bamboo stalks encrusted in salt, balancing organic warmth with mineral.
A concept chair sculpted from bamboo and salt, blooming with salt crystals and evoking fleeting stillness.
Inspired by the chasen, this chair’s delicate salt-covered legs evoke sacred fragility.
This project started with a small idea: I have a traditional Japanese torii in my apartment, and I wondered—what if it was covered in salt crystals instead of being made of wood or stone?
I used a generative AI tool to explore this idea and created images of salt growing over architectural shapes. The crystal patterns reminded me of the Japanese concept of Wabi-Sabi, which sees beauty in things that are imperfect, temporary, and simple.
When I thought about materials that represent Wabi-Sabi, I chose bamboo. It’s natural, often used in tea ceremonies, and doesn’t last forever. I imagined what bamboo might look like if it were covered in salt, and from that idea, I designed two chairs made of bamboo and salt crystals. These chairs express a fragile and short-lived beauty, like something that could disappear at any moment.
