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Project · Architecture & Interiors

The Wisteria Hall

A carved chandelier and five creatures for the headquarters of Fujii-gumi in Toyama, by Nambu Hakuun III and his workshop

The carved wisteria chandelier hanging in the double-height entrance hall, a recessed ceiling lit from its edges

A building in Toyama given a carved heart.

When Fujii-gumi, a construction company rooted in the Inami area, built its new headquarters, its president asked Nambu Hakuun III to make a work for the building as a company of Inami. The company’s name begins with 藤, the character for wisteria, and the president’s son brought images of ornaments hanging from a ceiling.

From that conversation came the idea of a cluster of wisteria suspended at the centre of the entrance hall as the company’s symbol, carved around a single theme: coexistence with nature. The building was designed to tread lightly on its surroundings, and Hakuun carried the theme on through its rooms, placing a carved creature in five of them.

Maker
Nambu Hakuun III and his workshop
Client
Fujii-gumi Co., Ltd., Nanto, Toyama
Materials
Japanese wingnut, zelkova, camphor, maple and other woods; handmade glass
Theme
Coexistence with nature
Status
Completed work, from the master’s own portfolio

The Chandelier

Seen from Every Side

The ceiling was reshaped around the work rather than the work around the ceiling: a double-recessed ceiling, raised at its centre and lit indirectly from the sides, so that the wisteria could hang within it.

The full length of the wisteria chandelier in the entrance hall
In the entrance hall.
Looking up into the chandelier toward the glowing crown
From below, toward the light.
Petals and glass beads hanging from the carved crown
Petals and glass, from beneath.
The carved crown of vines and leaves glowing around the light
The crown, carved in zelkova.
Close view of the carved vines and leaves of the crown
Vines and leaves, close.

The crown is carved in keyaki, Japanese zelkova, as thick, twisting vines and leaves, built strong enough with a local joiner to carry everything that hangs from it. From it fall more than a thousand petals carved in Japanese wingnut and only lightly tinted, among some 180 handmade glass beads, each a slightly different shape, in the colours of wisteria.

Weight had to be kept to a minimum. The light comes from LEDs within, and the wiring runs hidden inside bamboo pipes, a device borrowed from the shoin style of Japanese interiors. The chandelier is a European form made entirely in the language of Japanese carving: a meeting of East and West at the centre of a room where people arrive each day.

The crown fixed to the ceiling during installation, the first strands hanging below
Installation: the crown in place, the strands going up.

Among the Petals

Hidden Insects

Hidden among the petals are twelve carved insects for the attentive eye to find: bees, butterflies, dragonflies, a jewel beetle, an inchworm and a chafer. Ten of them are shown below. Somewhere in the design, Hakuun also concealed a Noh mask.

  • A carved dragonfly among the petals
    Dragonfly
  • A carved jewel beetle resting on a petal
    Jewel beetle
  • A carved butterfly on a glass bead
    Butterfly on a glass bead
  • A carved beetle on a petal, lit from behind
    Beetle
  • A carved bee among petals and glass
    Bee
  • A carved bee clinging to a petal
    Bee
  • A carved dragonfly resting on a stem
    Dragonfly
  • A dark carved butterfly among petals
    Butterfly
  • A carved inchworm climbing a stem
    Inchworm
  • A pale carved butterfly beside a glass bead
    Butterfly

Through the Building

Five Rooms, Five Creatures

Guided by the same theme of coexistence with nature, and prosperity alongside it, Hakuun placed a carved creature in five rooms of the building, each chosen for the room it occupies and for what it means.

Entrance

Swallows

A parent swallow feeds its chicks above the entrance, where guests are first received: a Japanese emblem of prosperity. The nest is carved in reddish camphor, the birds in a paler camphor.

The swallows’ nest set high on the wall above the entrance
A parent swallow feeding its chicks in the carved nest

Office

Beckoning Cat

In the office, a life-size calico maneki-neko beckons good fortune. It sits on a cushion carved with pine and crane, and its whiskers are drawn in broken lines.

A carved calico beckoning cat raising one paw
The carved cat’s face and raised paw, close

Staff Entrance

Frog and Firefly

At the staff entrance, a frog leaps through the grass. Kaeru, “frog,” also means “to return”: a wish that everyone goes home safely at the end of the day. Beside it, a firefly’s light is inlaid in nigaki wood.

A carved frog leaping through blades of grass on a dark wall beside a doorway
A carved firefly on a blade of grass, its light inlaid in a paler wood

President’s Office

Gecko

In the president’s office, a large white gecko keeps watch. Its Japanese name, yamori, can be written 家守, “guardian of the house,” and the gecko is seen as a messenger of the gods. It is carved in rare figured maple.

A large pale carved gecko on a timber wall beside a door
The carved gecko, close

Meeting Room

Dragonfly

In the meeting room, an oniyanma dragonfly rests on driftwood. Dragonflies are called kachi-mushi, “victory insects,” because they only fly forward. Its eyes are agate and its body persimmon and boxwood, left unpainted: natural woods only.

A carved dragonfly on a piece of driftwood mounted on a wall
The carved dragonfly with agate eyes and patterned wings

Each creature belongs to its room and to what the room is for. Together they turn a building into a single carved environment.

Carving: Nambu Hakuun III and his workshop. Glass: Studio Glass-Izm. Joinery: a local joiner. Client: Fujii-gumi Co., Ltd., Nanto, Toyama. A work from the master’s own portfolio.

A Work for Your Space

Every commission begins the way this one did: with a place, a conversation, and a drawing.

Discuss a project

⁠Projects

Project · Architecture & Interiors

The Wisteria Hall

A carved chandelier and five creatures for the headquarters of Fujii-gumi in Toyama, by Nambu Hakuun III and his workshop

The carved wisteria chandelier hanging in the double-height entrance hall, a recessed ceiling lit from its edges

A building in Toyama given a carved heart.

When Fujii-gumi, a construction company rooted in the Inami area, built its new headquarters, its president asked Nambu Hakuun III to make a work for the building as a company of Inami. The company’s name begins with 藤, the character for wisteria, and the president’s son brought images of ornaments hanging from a ceiling.

From that conversation came the idea of a cluster of wisteria suspended at the centre of the entrance hall as the company’s symbol, carved around a single theme: coexistence with nature. The building was designed to tread lightly on its surroundings, and Hakuun carried the theme on through its rooms, placing a carved creature in five of them.

Maker
Nambu Hakuun III and his workshop
Client
Fujii-gumi Co., Ltd., Nanto, Toyama
Materials
Japanese wingnut, zelkova, camphor, maple and other woods; handmade glass
Theme
Coexistence with nature
Status
Completed work, from the master’s own portfolio

The Chandelier

Seen from Every Side

The ceiling was reshaped around the work rather than the work around the ceiling: a double-recessed ceiling, raised at its centre and lit indirectly from the sides, so that the wisteria could hang within it.

The full length of the wisteria chandelier in the entrance hall
In the entrance hall.
Looking up into the chandelier toward the glowing crown
From below, toward the light.
Petals and glass beads hanging from the carved crown
Petals and glass, from beneath.
The carved crown of vines and leaves glowing around the light
The crown, carved in zelkova.
Close view of the carved vines and leaves of the crown
Vines and leaves, close.

The crown is carved in keyaki, Japanese zelkova, as thick, twisting vines and leaves, built strong enough with a local joiner to carry everything that hangs from it. From it fall more than a thousand petals carved in Japanese wingnut and only lightly tinted, among some 180 handmade glass beads, each a slightly different shape, in the colours of wisteria.

Weight had to be kept to a minimum. The light comes from LEDs within, and the wiring runs hidden inside bamboo pipes, a device borrowed from the shoin style of Japanese interiors. The chandelier is a European form made entirely in the language of Japanese carving: a meeting of East and West at the centre of a room where people arrive each day.

The crown fixed to the ceiling during installation, the first strands hanging below
Installation: the crown in place, the strands going up.

Among the Petals

Hidden Insects

Hidden among the petals are twelve carved insects for the attentive eye to find: bees, butterflies, dragonflies, a jewel beetle, an inchworm and a chafer. Ten of them are shown below. Somewhere in the design, Hakuun also concealed a Noh mask.

  • A carved dragonfly among the petals
    Dragonfly
  • A carved jewel beetle resting on a petal
    Jewel beetle
  • A carved butterfly on a glass bead
    Butterfly on a glass bead
  • A carved beetle on a petal, lit from behind
    Beetle
  • A carved bee among petals and glass
    Bee
  • A carved bee clinging to a petal
    Bee
  • A carved dragonfly resting on a stem
    Dragonfly
  • A dark carved butterfly among petals
    Butterfly
  • A carved inchworm climbing a stem
    Inchworm
  • A pale carved butterfly beside a glass bead
    Butterfly

Through the Building

Five Rooms, Five Creatures

Guided by the same theme of coexistence with nature, and prosperity alongside it, Hakuun placed a carved creature in five rooms of the building, each chosen for the room it occupies and for what it means.

Entrance

Swallows

A parent swallow feeds its chicks above the entrance, where guests are first received: a Japanese emblem of prosperity. The nest is carved in reddish camphor, the birds in a paler camphor.

The swallows’ nest set high on the wall above the entrance
A parent swallow feeding its chicks in the carved nest

Office

Beckoning Cat

In the office, a life-size calico maneki-neko beckons good fortune. It sits on a cushion carved with pine and crane, and its whiskers are drawn in broken lines.

A carved calico beckoning cat raising one paw
The carved cat’s face and raised paw, close

Staff Entrance

Frog and Firefly

At the staff entrance, a frog leaps through the grass. Kaeru, “frog,” also means “to return”: a wish that everyone goes home safely at the end of the day. Beside it, a firefly’s light is inlaid in nigaki wood.

A carved frog leaping through blades of grass on a dark wall beside a doorway
A carved firefly on a blade of grass, its light inlaid in a paler wood

President’s Office

Gecko

In the president’s office, a large white gecko keeps watch. Its Japanese name, yamori, can be written 家守, “guardian of the house,” and the gecko is seen as a messenger of the gods. It is carved in rare figured maple.

A large pale carved gecko on a timber wall beside a door
The carved gecko, close

Meeting Room

Dragonfly

In the meeting room, an oniyanma dragonfly rests on driftwood. Dragonflies are called kachi-mushi, “victory insects,” because they only fly forward. Its eyes are agate and its body persimmon and boxwood, left unpainted: natural woods only.

A carved dragonfly on a piece of driftwood mounted on a wall
The carved dragonfly with agate eyes and patterned wings

Each creature belongs to its room and to what the room is for. Together they turn a building into a single carved environment.

Carving: Nambu Hakuun III and his workshop. Glass: Studio Glass-Izm. Joinery: a local joiner. Client: Fujii-gumi Co., Ltd., Nanto, Toyama. A work from the master’s own portfolio.

A Work for Your Space

Every commission begins the way this one did: with a place, a conversation, and a drawing.

Discuss a project