Japan has too many trees, so we turned them into crayons

Japan has too many trees, so we turned them into crayons

This is no ordinary crayon. While it certainly looks the part, it’s actually crafted from an unlikely source. Trees! Or more specifically, Japanese Cedar. This one is made from cypress, and this one, magnolia, and this one, bogwood. In fact, every crayon in this special set is made from a different species of Japanese tree,

Allowing one to create with and embrace nature from a truly fresh perspective. These are Forest Crayons, a set of crayons made from Japanese trees This is the fascinating, surprising, and messy story of how they came to be. Like many cultures, Japan is a land of contradictions. Formal, yet fun. Efficient, yet inefficient.

Urban, yet natural. In fact, despite being home to the largest city in the world, approximately two thirds of the country is coated with vast woodlands. However, hidden within this lush green tapestry is yet another duality. Around 40 percent of these trees were planted not by nature, but by man.

Back in 1949, in an effort to rebuild a war torn Japan, the government initiated an ambitious project. The five year forestation plan. This large scale reforestation aimed to renew the country’s wood resources by planting over 2.8 million hectares of trees. Primarily coniferous species like Japanese cedar and cypress

To produce industrial roundwood needed for reconstruction. However, as the volume of domestic wood grew over the following years, it was soon overcome by a huge rise in imported wood. While this alleviated the nation’s shortage, the still maturing trees met a massive decline in demand, and therefore value.

Now today, the economic incentive to harvest the timber has entirely diminished, leaving Japan with more trees than they can shake a stick at. Although adding to the beauty of Japan’s landscape, Allowing these unharvested trees to overgrow poses huge problems. They not only reduce local biodiversity, but also weaken the surrounding soil,

Generating heightened concern for particularly landslide prone regions. In response, the Japanese government has funded numerous initiatives to tackle the issue, one of which we got involved with, called the Wood Change Challenge. This three month residency seeks to cultivate unique applications for Japan’s abundant wood,

Gathering artists and designers from across the country, including ourselves. Now, while we’ve seen no shortage of novel applications for Japanese wood in the past, from sake cups to actual sake, we wanted to go a little further and find something that could truly transform the way

We interact with and experience trees, from the ground up. Although a fairly hefty challenge, as always we knew the best way to understand the unknown is to dive straight in and simply play with it. So with a chunk of cedar in hand, it was time for some experiments.

First we tried boiling it, then freezing it, and eventually even eating it as the sort of sawdust topped pound cake, which tasted like, well, a sawdust topped pound cake. We also consumed it in a curried form which, with its earthy undertones, tasted a lot better.

At some point, I also dabbled with the idea of wooden circuitry, which, while mostly ridiculous, actually showed a few pico-volts of promise. In the midst of all the trials and errors, we eventually tried grinding the wood down into a fine powder.

Although a simple change in form, in doing this, something spectacular emerged. Something that had been glaring at us the whole time. Color. Once abstracted into a fine mush, the hues hiding within the cedar’s wood, leaves and bark suddenly became so much more apparent,

Drawing us immediately to the idea of, well, drawing with it. So combining the powdered wood with a smidge of beeswax, we quickly forged it into the simplest and most widely loved tool we could think of, a crayon. And thus the idea for Forest Crayons was born.

With the core concept in place, we next wanted to get out of the city and expand our palette beyond cedar wood and into the other hues of the Japanese forest. However, after heading out to the forest coated countryside of Hida, we ran into a teensy little problem.

It was winter, and everything was dead. Disappointed that we may be limited to a three tone palette from the evergreen conifers, we almost gave up on the direction entirely. But then everything changed once more after a visit to the local lumberyard, or as it’s called, the doba.

There we were greeted by masses of logs, monstrous machines, but more noticeably, a mountain of undesired and chopped up wood. At first sight, the pole appeared merely as a monotone mound of beige. However, once we scoured its surface and singled out as many species as we could see,

The beauty of nature revealed itself once again. We didn’t need to rely on flowers or leaves, the hues of the wood itself provided a far more diverse and surprising palette than we could ever imagine. With this revelation, we gathered as many species as we could

And headed to the workshop to make some crayons. After some further testing and tweaking, we eventually selected our final palette, and our first set of Forest Crayons was complete. katsura, cedar, sakura, zelkova, cypress, amur cork. chestnut, magnolia, bog zelkova, sun bleached oak, bog elm,

And our personal favourite, fungus stained wood, which produces this beautiful deep blue. With this final iteration complete, the Wood Change Challenge and the Forest Crayons project was drawing to a close. We took some nice photos, won a design award, exhibited in Tokyo, London, and Eindhoven, and even briefly appeared on Japanese TV.

At this point, we were keen to continue our research, exploring even more tree species and their hues beyond Japan. However, there was something that we needed to do first. Make Forest Crayons a real thing. While our prototypes were of course drawable, we felt that for the project to be truly complete,

We needed others to experience and feel the same sense of wonder for nature as we did. And so to achieve this, we needed to undergo one of the hardest parts of the design process and go from art piece to product. Consider your common crayon. Through the use of chemical pigments,

Each of these crayons are made to be as perfectly controlled and consistent as possible. Although the existence of pigments have always been rooted in nature, the desire for mass manufacture has refined away their natural essence, devolving even the most expressive tools into dullness. When tasked with bringing Forest Crayons to market,

We had to make sure to continue respecting and embracing its natural roots. Nature is not something to be sterilised into perfection, it is a chaotic, ephemeral, and multi sensory beauty to be embraced, not erased. But to achieve such a goal, we knew we couldn’t do it alone,

So we found ourselves two key partners, Felissimo and Toichi Bungu. Felissimo is a Japanese company that specialises in creating all sorts of elegant and whimsical items from a set of 500 colour pencils to a hyper realistic seal plushie.

With decades of experience in product manufacture and a strong support for forests across the globe, we knew they’d be right to lead production. And the people to actually manufacture the crayons will be Toichi Bungu. Run by the Mizutani brothers in the humble Nagoya factory, they’re

Known as the last remaining hand crafted crayon factory in Japan. Well, at least, that’s what they told us. Unlike larger factories, Toichi Bungu possesses the flexibility needed to experiment and fine tune each crayon’s composition, making them ideal for the task.

With the two partners decided, the plan to bring Forest Crayons to market was well underway. However, as with any design for manufacture process, we soon realised that a few changes to a design had to be made. First, we had to refine the palette.

Now sadly, due to its rarity, our favourite fungal wood couldn’t make the cut. But instead, Felissimo gathered over 40 different tree species from all across Japan for us to select from and ensure that the final palette is as varied and vibrant as possible. Second, we had to change the type of wax.

While prototypes were made with Japanese wood wax, we later found that the tree from which it grows is in fact endangered. So of course using it was off the table. However, the Mizutani Brothers proposed a more environmentally friendly, yet equally unusual substitute. Rice!

Using wax and oil derived from rice, we could suitably substitute the wood wax, while retaining the ideal hardness and texture for drawing. Thirdly and finally, we had to evolve the form. Each crayon made in the Mizutani Brothers factory is formed using this vintage, bespoke made crayon molding machine.

This hand operated contraption can produce up to 600 classically shaped crayons in a single batch. While we’re honored to have our crayons forged with this historic mould, sadly it means we can’t accommodate our little prism shaped peaks. But to compensate, Felissimo commissioned an incredible graphic designer

To give our packaging a beautifully playful design, which of course is 100 percent recyclable. With the evolved crayon design in place, it was finally time for the Mizutani brothers to work their crayon making magic. And here it is, the final set of Forest Crayons. The palette includes cypress, hazenoki, magnolia, katsura,

Cedar, kaizuka, zelkova, bayberry, chinaberry, and finally, bogwood. Each made entirely out of natural ingredients and coloured solely with the natural hues of Japanese wood. The unique species and growing conditions of each tree influences the properties of every crayon , meaning that no two are ever identical.

Forest Crayons allows one to express not only with nature’s colours, but also its texture and hardness, embracing inconsistency and forging a fresh bond with our surroundings. With that in mind, we’re excited how the project may evolve and go beyond solely Japan. What might a set of crayons look like for the UK?

Or Jamaica, or perhaps Brazil. Further still, we could even consider this concept beyond nature. After all, once deconstructed into its granular components, we believe anything can transform into a medium for creativity and expression. And perhaps being able to practice this in our everyday lives is what being playful is truly all about.

So on that note, thank you for watching, and as always, stay Playfool.

Forest Crayons are available now: https://shop.studioplayfool.com/products/forest-crayons

In this video we tell the story behind one of Japan’s biggest problems and how it inspired us to create Forest Crayons, a set of crayons made from Japanese wood.

0:00 Introduction
0:39 Japan’s Growing Problem
2:40 Creating Through Curiosity
6:07 From Art Piece to Product
10:53 Outro

Project by
Playfool: https://studioplayfool.com/

Video by
Daniel Coppen

Co-edited by
Natalia Rey: https://www.instagram.com/natalialucia.tv/

Videography by
Daniel Coppen
Kumi Oda: https://vimeo.com/kumioda
William Scothern: https://williamscothern.com/
Yoichi Onoda: https://yoichionoda.com/

Photography by
Kosuke Shimasaki: https://www.instagram.com/kosukeshimasaki/
Shot by Kusk: https://www.shotbykusk.com/
Yoichi Onoda: https://yoichionoda.com/

Additional Media from
Epidemic Sound
Shutterstock
Wikimedia Commons

Special Thanks to
Felissimo: https://www.felissimo.co.jp/
Hidakuma: https://hidakuma.com/
Loftwork: https://loftwork.com/
Toichi Bungu: http://toichicrayon.jp/

Forest Crayon logo and box design by
asatte design office: http://astt.jp

Music in order of use
Handwriting by Frank Jonsson
We Are Giants by Silver Maple
Paths of a Samurai by Mandala Dreams
Loopty Loops by Pandaraps, Surfer Dave
Chronoshifting by Guustavv
Clues in the sand by Frank Jonsson
Eleven Thousand Feet by Adriel Fair
Plumage by Jobii
Anatsuri by Osoku

Sources
– World Bank. “Forest Area (% of Land Area) – Japan”. Accessed 01-11-2023. Retrieved from: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/AG.LND.FRST.ZS?locations=JP
– Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. “Annual Report on Forest and Forestry in Japan”, 2022. Retrieved from: https://www.maff.go.jp/e/data/publish/attach/pdf/index-193.pdf
– Matsushita, Koji. “Japanese Forestation Policies During the 20 Years Following World War II”, IntechOpen, 2015. Accessed 01-11-2023. Retrieved from: https://www.intechopen.com/chapters/48987

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