Ha Plates 葉皿 – Joji Fukushima Feature Sale

ITSUMO is pleased to have another opportunity to invite Vancouver based artist Joji Fukushima for his final exclusive sale featuring his hand-crafted wooden plates “Ha Plates 葉皿”.

In response to last year’s “Ike いけ” exhibition by Joji Fukushima, we’re excited to announce another special sale featuring his body of work exclusively available at ITSUMO. With a limited amount of completely hand crafted plates from start to finish, Hazara 葉皿 (leaf-plate) breathes second life into leftover lumber. Individually unique and food safe, each plate is repurposed fromoff-cut thin pieces of bowed and cupped wooden planks, normally considered undesirable within the aspect of his woodworking. The hiragana word “は” (ha = leaf) has been carved on the bottom of each plate, which, instead of stamping his name, is his way of trademarking the series of his conceptualized work. Appreciating the beauty of the material’s imperfections, Joji Fukushima carries the wabi sabi ideology of embracing their natural state and finding joy from the potential of their becoming.

Ha Plates 葉皿 – Joji Fukushima Feature Sale

Starting from
Saturday December 11, 2021

Location: ITSUMO | 279 East 6th Ave. Vancouver, BC

“ha” plates

For a while, I did not know what to do with thin pieces of bowed and cupped wood planks. They mostly come from re-sawing processes of cutting thick pieces of lumber into somewhat close to desired sizes. Dealing with off-cut is an inevitable aspect of wood working. Some of them are useful because they are straight enough… so I saw the bent and bowed pieces not so useful as I could not find any use for them. However, I eventually was able to get away from controlling focused woodworking practices. Then I started to see the joy in working with what they are, which led me to make ha plates series.
– Joji Fukushima

About Joji Fukushima

Born in Japan, Joji Fukushima came to Canada as a teenager and up until now has operated a/i studio, a multi-disciplinary workshop providing design and fabrication services located in Vancouver, BC. His wooden furniture designs are a combination of simplicity and thoughtful functionality and are often born out of everyday necessity and the idea of adapting objects to suit individual needs. His connection to the materials is evident, regularly using offcuts of wood to minimize waste and change the way we view and interact with seemingly basic items.

a/i studio: www.i-divides-a.com

We hope you enjoy this opportunity to experience a sense of discovery of Joji Fukushima’s legacy in BC. As a final farewell, we are honoured to be presenting “Ha Plates 葉皿” at ITSUMO to celebrate the end of a chapter before he moves back to Japan at the end of 2021. Almost as if Fukushima himself will be leaving us a trail of shedding leaves, making room for new growth to breathe new life on his next journey.