Heating, Bending, Weaving — A Visit to the Yoshidas (Part 4)
Hello, this is Tomotake Ichikawa.
The special exhibition featuring the work of Naoki and Noriko Yoshida is now just around the corner.
We are also gradually getting things ready for the opening day.
In the previous journal, I introduced Noriko’s basket-making process.
This time, I will share a look at Naoki’s basket making.
After graduating from the Bamboo Craft Training Center,
Naoki and Noriko Yoshida spent about five years training at a workshop in Oita Prefecture,
learning a wide range of bamboo basket-making techniques.
In the gallery set up in the reception room of their home,
many of the pieces they have made over the years are on display.
Then, when Naoki told me he was going to bend some bamboo,
I decided to watch him at work.
He was holding a thick bamboo strip that would be used for the rim of a basket.
Naoki stood in front of a device used for bending bamboo,
gazing at the strip for a while, as if checking its condition.
Inside the bamboo-bending device is a burner that works much like a gas stove.
By concentrating the heat in a narrow area, it allows heat to be applied efficiently to the parts of the bamboo that need it.
Bamboo has the property of becoming more flexible when heated.
This makes it possible to gradually bend even thick, stiff bamboo strips used for basket rims
by heating them as they are shaped.
The tools used vary depending on the size of the item being made, the width and thickness of the bamboo,
and how much it needs to be bent.
Some makers use a heat gun, which looks somewhat like a hair dryer.
When bending large quantities of bamboo, however, some older craftspeople say that a charcoal stove works best.
Naoki slowly heats the bamboo over the device, gradually applying pressure when he feels the time is right. Then, the once-straight bamboo begins to bend into a gentle curve. 
Finally, he bends the bamboo to nearly 90 degrees, then quickly dips it into water. He explained that cooling the heated bamboo helps set it in its bent shape. 
Naoki carefully continues his work, checking the condition of each bamboo strip as he goes. 
What Naoki was making at the time was a hexagonal basket rim. 
To achieve this shape, he repeatedly heats the same strip of bamboo, 
bending it again and again.
Next, Naoki showed me the process of weaving bamboo.
He told me that this basket was being made at a customer’s request.
He was checking the size of the basket’s base against a paper template.
The thin bamboo strips overlap and spread outward, forming a delicate woven pattern. 
With calm, steady movements, he carefully wove the thin bamboo strips one by one, so many that I could hardly count them. 
Even after weaving for some time, he continued making small adjustments, pressing the weave together with his fingernails and checking the number of bamboo strips. He continued weaving, occasionally spraying the bamboo with water to keep it from drying out. 
In this way, he first makes several flat woven panels that will form the bases of the baskets. 
Once the bases have been woven, he uses an electric heating iron to gradually bend the flat woven panels upward to an angle of about 90 degrees. 
As the flat woven panels are bent upward, they gradually begin to take the shape of baskets. 
This is how the basket looks after the flat woven base has been bent upward and the weaving has continued a little further. Even at this stage, it already has a distinctive character and presence.
I felt the same way when I watched Noriko twist and secure the bamboo strips around the rim.
Watching Naoki at work, I could see that there is hardly a moment in basket making when one can let one’s guard down,
and that he carefully checks the condition of each bamboo strip as he works.
A single bamboo pole that once stood in their bamboo storage area gradually takes the shape of a basket
as it passes through the hands of Naoki and Noriko.
There are so many small steps involved that we might never notice just by looking at a finished basket.
Watching their work reminded me once again that a basket takes shape through many small steps,
each carried out carefully with time and attention.
Please watch the video to see Naoki bending bamboo with heat and weaving thin bamboo strips.
For this special exhibition, “The One Table,”
Naoki will be visiting 1basketry on Saturday, October 17,
to demonstrate how he makes his bamboo coffee drippers at the shop.
In the next journal, I will introduce how the bamboo strips used to make these coffee drippers are prepared.
To be continued.
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“The One Table” Special Exhibition
Yoshida Takemono | Two Makers, Two Tones
— White & Carbonized Bamboo Baskets —
2026
October 16 (Fri), 17 (Sat)*, 18 (Sun)
October 23 (Fri), 24 (Sat), 25 (Sun)
October 30 (Fri), 31 (Sat), November 1 (Sun)
* On Saturday, October 17, Naoki Yoshida will be at the shop
and will give a demonstration of how he makes his coffee drippers.
* On the dates listed above, everyone is welcome to visit between 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM.
* Visits are also available by appointment on October 19 (Mon), 22 (Thu), 26 (Mon), and 29 (Thu).
Please make a reservation through the page below.