This work is part of the permanent collection at the New York Museum of Modern Art

Background

When I was attending Royal  College of Art in London, I wanted to create something to express my Japanese identity, since everyone else around me were foreigners.    As  finding beauty in a grain of wood, or the texture of straw knit sandals,  the material of any product is very important for Japanese.  I have that kind of feelings for materials too.

Function

It’s a salt and pepper dispensor.

You can see the white salt and black pepper shining through slightly. Crack them open by trying to fold them in the middle.   Because they are made of rice paste, they melt to water at once when you throw them away.   A bird can eat one, and it wouldn’t do him any harm.

Production

I decided to use  rice paste for this, because rice absorbs moisture.