Interesting Japanese carpentry exhibition

[Essex Barn Workshop]

Saw this advertised. Free admission, on until July in central London so thinking I might go.

https://www.japanhouselondon.uk/whats-on/the-craft-of-carpentry-drawing-life-from-japans-forests/

 

[Setch]

Ooh, that looks pretty interesting. Thanks for the heads-up.

 

[pulleyt]

Thanks, I'm definitely interested

 

[Peter Kessler]

Saw this advertised. Free admission, on until July in central London so thinking I might go.

https://www.japanhouselondon.uk/whats-on/the-craft-of-carpentry-drawing-life-from-japans-forests/

Must get to that. Looks fascinating. Thank you for posting.

 

[imageel]

Thanks for posting this - it looks a fascinating exhibition - I've just booked my visit for tomorrow already !!

 

[llywmog]

Thanks for the heads up. Their last woodworking exhibition was very interesting.

 

[Delaney]

I went to one a few years ago. I found it somewhat uninspiring and not worth the trip.

Perhaps they’ll do a better job this year?

 

[llywmog]

I went to one a few years ago. I found it somewhat uninspiring and not worth the trip.

Perhaps they’ll do a better job this year?

It was a bit on the small/sparse side, so definitely agree that I wouldn't travel far for it. I think it was nice for a little trip into town (only 30 mins public transport travel for me to get there).

 

[imageel]

I'm visiting it later today and will report back with some photos for those that cannot make it.

I'm no expert but on the 3-4 visits I made on business trips over the years I was always fascinated by their craftmanship when visiting their temples and the like.
Their tooling too is interesting and to some extent reflects their preference to work on bedding/matting on the floor and not use traditional workbenches.
The only Japanese tool I have is a treasured Ryoba which I absolutely love and with which one can make super quick and straight cuts on sheet materials when used in their sitting style, and as a general use saw it was nearly always my goto choice

 

[dennisk]

Hopefully there will be some SHARPENING display

 

[imageel]

Hi -I visited this yesterday and as others have mentioned, it is quite small but I had a pleasant hour perusing the displays.
For me it was a relatively easy journey from where I live in Chelmsford so I thought well worth it, and the other exhibits on the ground floor were equally interesting showing as they did, the varied and often exquisite craftwork Japan produces.
I've posted some photos I took here - the lighting was poor and I didn't have a flash so apologies for the quality..
It was one of those -look but don't touch exhibitions which for me was a little frustrating as a lot of the exhibits are incredibly tactile and as an ex-woodworker I'm used to feeling with my hands a cut joint..!
A shame but enjoyable nonetheless

 

[velar]

It's a lovely exhibition and a good programme of accompanying workshops and talks - but the Japan House exhibition space is small and any display there is likely to be of limited worth to anyone who has a difficult journey. I live in London so speak from a position of privilege (in that regard at least)!

NB re @imageel 's point above about touching the exhibits - there is a little extra bit of the exhibition upstairs, on the ground floor where the shop is, that allows you to handle a small number of insanely clever joints. See the pics attached - I posted this on imageel's picture thread as well but it's worth a repeat.

Re traditional Japanese craftsmanship - one of the people giving the talks/workshops was also the 2017 Japanese national champion for longest continuous very thin wooden shaving (with a hand plane) - the year he won, in the rounds he had to do a continuous 1.8 metre strip, for which he achieved a thickness of 4 microns. In the finals he produced a four-metre strip for which he only managed a relatively chunky 8 microns.