Exhibitor’s Stories

The Midas Touch: how an ancient bookmaking technique turns paper into gold

This intriguing design changes the way you look at paper forever. Gone are the bulky books that stack your shelves, or papier-mâché used in a street festival. Japan’s TANT, founded by Yokoyama Nori and Harada Genki, came up with small and durable jewellery items made of paper called ikue. It drew inspirations from full gilt edging, an ancient technique that uses gold to embellish the edges of the pages of a book. Gold helps preserve paper, and gives the precious book another layer of cultural meaning. Ikue combines paper and gold to offer customers a dazzling jewellery collection. A sculpture made of paper is embellished with gold and further hardened and waterproofed to transform it into a lasting piece of art and craft that represents the best of the Japanese artisanal tradition.