HINT, born from PLAYFUL Lab.
PLAYFUL Lab.
"Bring a playful spirit into your daily life."
Regardless of race, gender, disability, age, or region,
By creating an environment where people can encounter "firsts" in their daily lives,
This project aims to cultivate the power to create a future that does not yet exist.
PLAYFUL Lab. uses discarded materials collected from both inside and outside Awaji Island.
A place where everyone can freely use their hands, experiment, and create.
We value the ideas that arise from working with materials.
In that process,
"You can encounter materials in this way too."
One idea that emerged was a craft kit made from recycled materials.
That is not the complete answer.
This is just one entry point to using the materials.
And one more thing,
To be close to the time spent working with the materials,
It was created to provide the impetus for people to start thinking.
Here's a "HINT".
Here, you encounter materials and create while playing.
Here are some hints from PLAYFUL Lab.
Moving your hands, feeling lost, trying things out,
I gradually encounter my own personal insights.
I want to be a presence that quietly supports people through that process.
From here on, this is a record of Ryosuke Maruyama (owner of Sanmyaku), who, despite his initial bewilderment, seriously confronted the material known as pearl nucleus.
HINT 02 -Pearl Nucleus-
Actually, I almost declined when I heard it was a pearl nucleus.
Because it's the complete opposite of the things Sanmyaku usually makes, in terms of both texture and atmosphere.
I even want to deliberately make something smooth rough.
An impossible task!
This is a record of my experience working with pearl nuclei.
Let me start by showing you the deliverables.
Here it is.
I made a table lamp by filling the light bulb with pearl nuclei.
Focusing on the property of pearl nuclei to "transmit light," which was discovered through various experiments, we aimed to create a design that would bring out its charm.
Contrary to my initial impression, it turned out to be very much like a mountain range, and I ended up with an atmosphere I really loved.
We conducted various experiments before arriving at this lighting solution.
In generalPLAYFUL Lab. HINT 02I've put together a fun summary there, so please check that out, but here I'll write about what went on behind the scenes.
As I mentioned at the beginning, when I first heard about it, I even considered turning it down.
The offer was to create a publication that would offer hints on how to use pearl nuclei as a material at PLAYFUL Lab. "Most people just glue them on and use them as decorations, but we want people to use them in more ways," they said.
I see, with a finely granular material, if you're going to make something with it, "how to fix it in place" will definitely be key. Hmm... well... I can't think of anything other than gluing it! Maybe drill holes and thread some string or wire through them? No, that'll turn it into jewelry. Wow.
Even the option to "stick" something on has been gently blocked, this is quite a problem.
I agonized over these things for several days.
On the way to Awaji Island for a meeting, I had made up my mind, thinking, "No matter what, I'm going to do this until I'm satisfied!" But I was incredibly anxious.
And so the meeting began, and I came face to face with the pearl nucleus.
When you touch it, it feels incredibly pleasant. Smooth and silky.
When I put my hand in, I felt a heavy weight.
It's also cool.
Looking closely, it seems some of them are cracked.
Wait, are they originally cut from such a huge seashell?
It seems like I'm making discoveries that are far beyond what I had imagined.
That's interesting. I probably had a lot of preconceived notions.
I kept realizing how much I didn't know about the material, even though I thought I understood it, and my anxiety completely turned into excitement.
In situations like this, I tell myself, "No, no!" and try to refocus, activating my wisdom of acknowledging my own ignorance.
Take a closer look to see if there's anything you thought you knew. Doing so will help you realize how many things you've only predicted the outcome of without actually trying them. This meta-perspective is incredibly useful when creating things, though it's easy to forget.
Is this it? Is this perspective the very "HINT" for this episode?
Therefore, partly as a self-admonishment for almost turning down a project due to preconceived notions about the materials, this article focuses on the importance of "experimentation" before starting to create something, offering it as a hint for manufacturing.
As described on the paper, we tried various things in the experiment.
There are actually a few things I haven't included, but here's a summary of what I've actually done.
| Experiment genre | Experiment details | result |
| Feel with your body | I feel the weight | About the same weight as a bowling ball. |
| lick | It's smooth. It has no taste. Don't do it, you might swallow it whole. | |
| smell | It doesn't smell. | |
| Touch with your hands | It feels smooth and silky, and when you put your hand in, you can feel its weight. | |
| Step on | Looks like it would be good for foot reflexology! | |
| View enlarged | The surface has a marbled pattern like Jupiter. Each one is a different color! The broken surfaces vary quite a bit. Some are smooth, while others are bumpy and rough. | |
| Listen to sounds | The sound of shells rubbing against each other is very soothing. It's a higher pitch than rice. A gentler sound than gravel. | |
| blow | It rolls around on the table. I put one on a bent straw and blew into it, and it floated. | |
| Apply force | divide | When you try to break it with pliers, it shatters into pieces. A hammer also shatters it into pieces. When it breaks, it doesn't necessarily break in the direction of the force applied, but rather in the same direction as the pattern on the shell. |
| sharpen | It cuts quite well! It's not as hard as stone, so it can be processed. | |
| Make a hole | It was difficult to get the drill to work, but I managed to make a hole by taking my time. Fixing the pearl nucleus in place is important. | |
| roll | When placed on a tray and tilted, the broken pearl nuclei remain stationary without rolling, while the spherical ones roll and can be collected at the bottom. | |
| Insert the pen | I put a lot of pearl nuclei into a glass and stuck a pen in it. The pen stood upright, supported by the nuclei. | |
| To apply heat; to take away | stir-fry | The color changed to brown. After the temperature rose, the small pearl nuclei began to pop and crack like popcorn. Not only did they split in half, but they also split into thin slices. |
| Freeze | no change | |
| boil | no change | |
| Change the environment | Make it light up | It softly transmitted light. The closer it was to the light source, the brighter it shone, and as more layers were placed, less and less light reached it. |
| Put it in water | It sinks. It's heavier than water. There's no change in weight before and after putting it in water, so it doesn't absorb water. | |
| Put it in a bowl | I put it in a glass. It's pretty. | |
| compare | Compare to a tree | Compared to wood, the material itself is harder, but the growth rings of shells have weak bonds and are prone to cracking when processed like wood. When polished, the texture is quite different, but the appearance is similar to wood because of the growth rings. |
| Compare to a stone | It is softer than stone. It is easier to work with than stone when it comes to drilling holes or carving. When polished, it has a similar appearance. | |
| Compare with iron | In contrast to iron, which is flexible and can be bent and stretched, pearl nuclei are the complete opposite; they are inflexible, brittle, and easily broken. When polished, iron also gives a completely opposite impression, appearing inorganic. | |
| Gather information | Investigating how to create pearl nuclei | The raw shells are cut, rounded with a disc, sorted by size, and polished. |
| Research history | In 1907, a German introduced the method of manufacturing shell buttons to Japan, and production began in Sumoto City around 1909-1910. Due to its proximity to Kobe Port, a base for importing raw materials and finished products, it flourished as an industry utilizing domestic labor, and demand grew for buttons for military uniforms. During World War II, the entire production area established Awaji Button Manufacturing Co., Ltd., unifying the industry. After the war, although controls were lifted, the import of the main raw material, freshwater mussels, was discontinued, so the raw material was switched to saltwater mussels from the south. In 1950, since pearl nuclei are also products made by processing shells, just like buttons, one company in Sumoto City began manufacturing pearl nuclei using freshwater mussels. In the 1950s, with the emergence of synthetic resin chemical buttons, many companies switched to manufacturing chemical buttons. Almost simultaneously, full-scale production of pearl nuclei began with the recruitment of skilled workers from Osaka Prefecture. From around 1960 to 1965, a global pearl boom occurred, and shell button manufacturers, pressured by chemical buttons, all switched to pearl nucleus production. At its peak in the early 1960s, the number of pearl nuclei producers reached 130. However, the boom did not last long, and in the late 1960s, a combination of negative factors such as 1. overproduction, 2. marine pollution, and 3. the waning of the pearl boom led to a deterioration of business conditions. Subsequently, around 1975, the industry regained its vitality, and the balance between supply and demand was restored. In 1980, the Awaji Pearl Nucleus Production Cooperative was established by 11 producers. This organization fostered a spirit of mutual assistance and established a foundation for responding to the rapidly changing society through organizational strength. However, in recent years, global demand for jewelry has remained sluggish, and pearl nucleus production has also been on a downward trend. | |
| Researching materials | The pearl nucleus is the core of a cultured pearl and is the "raw material" for cultured pearls. When this nucleus is implanted into an Akoya oyster and submerged in the sea, the nacreous layer wraps around it, and a pearl is born. The main raw materials for pearl nuclei are the Ophiopogon oyster and the Ophiopogon matsutake from the Mississippi River in the United States. Because trading companies in Kobe import these, pearl nucleus manufacturers are concentrated in Sumoto City, which has the most convenient land and sea transportation within Awaji Island. Many pearl nucleus manufacturers are former shell button manufacturers. | |
| Apply | Making lighting | I decided to create lighting by focusing on the fact that light can pass through it. I also realized that although it is transparent, its transmittance is low, so I piled up pearl nuclei around the light source to create a design that produces a gradient of light. |
Looking back, I've done a lot of different things.
Here are some of the details of the changes that I found particularly interesting.
Let's start with this one.
"Sauté the pearl nucleus"
This was the first experiment I wanted to try. The results were quite unexpected!
I was surprised that they gradually turned brown, but then I noticed that some of them would pop out when I shook the pan. I wondered if I was shaking it that hard, but as I continued shaking, more would pop out. What's this? I stopped shaking and took a closer look, and the pearl nuclei were bouncing around like popcorn. I followed the ones that were bouncing, and it seemed they were cracking! They kept cracking, and lots of thin, scale-like pieces formed.
Based on these results, I speculated that when shellfish grow, their shells don't grow through cell division and tissue proliferation, but rather through the layering of components. This is probably also how pearls form from a pearl nucleus. It makes sense that some of them had patterns resembling tree rings.
I haven't checked if it's true or not, but if you're curious, you can check the answer online.
Next, we'll simply "magnify it." That means using a magnifying glass.
There were several things in this that made me think, "Ah, I see!"
I discovered a ring-like pattern in the stir-fry, which led to a realization. It had a Jupiter-like feel to it and was very beautiful.
The broken surfaces aren't all the same; some are smooth, others have a bumpy texture. Is it due to differences in the part of the body?
You can also try boiling, freezing, or rolling them around. Just try it, even if you don't expect any changes.
I also tried standing a pen upright in it. This worked quite well. The "weight" of the pearl nucleus was utilized, and the pen and stationery stood up nicely. It seems like you could make this with gravel too.
And this is "shining a light on it."
Here are the results of the experiment we conducted. First, we spread the material in a transparent container and shone a cell phone light on it.
I was able to confirm that light shines through it! Beautiful!
That's when the idea of "attaching pearl nuclei to a glass container to make a lampshade" came about, so we first arranged them on a flat surface and shone a light on them. But it just didn't look right. It lacked the beauty we'd seen before.
When comparing them, the light that spilled out after passing through many pearl nuclei was more random, organic, had more depth, and was more beautiful than the light that was simply lined up flat.
So we changed course. The idea became "to put lighting inside a glass container and pile it high with pearl nuclei to create a light fixture."
I experimented with various container shapes to achieve a state where light is emitted through the layered pearl nuclei.
It has a nice, science experiment feel to it. The size is also similar to a light bulb.
It looks like a shell, and it fits perfectly.
This is how the lighting fixture was completed.
This time, I focused on the layout of the paper, so I conducted the experiment broadly and superficially. However, if you notice any interesting changes, I recommend focusing on those and exploring them more thoroughly and deeply. For example, there are still many things to do with cooking that aren't done, such as "roasting," "deep-frying," "steaming," and "smoking," in addition to "stir-frying" and "boiling." You might find nothing at the end of your experiment, but you might also find something.
In this age where you can find out anything with a quick search, it's important to put your all into even things that seem pointless at first glance.
The results obtained through physical training can easily overturn even the rules of thumb and the knowledge of those who came before us.
Take a moment to consciously observe the things around you that you usually overlook. When you do, you might encounter unexpected discoveries and feel inspired to pursue goals you never imagined.
That made me realize that once again.
it was fun!
This is why I can't quit making things.
I'm waiting for annoying offers that I'd rather not accept.
bonus
The coffee I was drinking during the experiment somehow ended up with a pearl nucleus in it. It didn't have any taste, though.
Ryosuke Maruyama (Sanmyaku, shop owner)
Using design as a means, I create spaces where things, events, and people can flow comfortably together. I spent six years working on the planning and management of KIITO. After three years working at a construction company, I opened "Sanmyaku," a hub for regional resource recycling.