See the Mesmerizing Interlocking Geometric Patterns Produced With This Ancient Japanese Woodworking Technique
The art form, known as kumiko, is now practiced by designers from around the world
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First emerging in Japan in the Asuka period of about 538 to 710 C.E., the intricate woodworking practice of kumiko has since spread worldwide.
Once reserved for screens or inlaid panels in handmade furniture, kumiko, with its thin slats precisely cut to interlock in repeating geometric patterns, has evolved to become a craft celebrated for its own designs.
This month, the art form will also be part of the 43rd annual Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, D.C., held from April 24 to 27. The featured work is chosen by a three-person panel each year, and there is no quota for any one discipline. Each artist is selected on originality, artistic conception, beauty and quality of the work. The event will feature 120 American artists working in ceramics, decorative fiber, basketry, furniture, glass, jewelry, leather, metal, mixed-media, wood, paper and wearable art.
In his cozy workshop behind his D.C. home, contemporary kumiko craftsman David Gootnick, a Craft Show featured artist, uses the raw material of his practice: a five-foot-long, two-inch-thick plank of Alaskan cedar.
“I’m very happy with this particular piece of wood,” he says, grasping one board before reducing it to tiny shards, often less than two millimeters thick. “This will last me a long time. You really don’t see any grain in that white wood. It’s like a block of cheese.”
His woodworking tools include the simple (a long Japanese knife) and the multifaceted (a table saw). “The long and short of it is,” he says, plank in hand, “you take this, you mill it, you mill it, you mill it like this, then you cut it into strips.”
Once the wood is cut into pieces of the same thickness (using a digital caliper), he cuts the precise angles so that the pieces can fit together in their pleasing lattice-like designs. Just as important as the consistent thickness and quality of the wood pieces is the spacing between them.
A longtime woodworker whose home is filled with sturdy pieces he made decades ago, Gootnick has also worked with luthiers, learning the kind of intricate woodworking that comes with instrument-making.
“I developed the skills of a woodworker when I was young and I sort of kept it up, kept my hand in, much of my life,” says Gootnick, now 70. “Ten years ago, I just saw kumiko while looking at Japanese architecture and was just drawn to it.”
He learned more about it from practitioners he found online, particularly one in Australia, Des King, who shared his approach in text and videos.
After creating his first pieces as decorative panels in cabinetry, Gootnick started to assemble self-contained wall works. He took the traditional motifs of the Japanese practice—its series of hexagons and equilateral triangles—and added his own contemporary touches, using darker redheart or Osage woods for color contrasts, or placing the designs on colorful cloth.
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To the traditional kumiko designs, Gootnick has added his own variations with rosettes or lanterns done in a style recalling mission furniture.
While traditional kumiko was meant to have its hundreds or sometimes thousands of pieces assembled using the pressure of the precisely cut angles or notches without the use of nails, screws or glue, Gootnick will dab a dot of glue with a toothpick on pieces to assure longevity.
“Yes, I can wedge all of the pieces together—and I do,” he says. “If you want something to last ten years, you don’t need the glue. But if you want something to last 100 years or more, I don’t know why you wouldn’t.”
Another woodworker employing kumiko techniques who can be found at the Craft Show this year is Michael Jury of Springfield, Virginia. Largely working in handmade Shaker- and Danish-inspired furniture, his cabinets and tables sometimes include traditional kumiko pattern insets. Jury chisels basswood into small pieces and assembles them into a traditional design called asa-no-ha, which resembles a hemp leaf pattern.
He’s also used kumiko panels on the sliding doors of a sideboard, backed with black fabric-like momigami paper, or kneaded paper.
“That’s a piece that I really enjoyed making,” Jury says in a video on his website. “It’s been well received; it’s won best in show at a few different exhibits and competitions. That’s kind of been a special piece for me up to this point.”
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Gootnick finds that his practice of the form seems to be improving as he continues his process.
“I made this two years ago. It took me a month,” Gootnick says, pointing to one piece that, like the others, is intricate in its swirling design with complex interlocking geometry. “If I made it today and I’m using the same design and the same techniques, I can make it in two weeks or a little bit more. And when I look at it, I like to think it’s cleaner, a little bit closer to perfection.”
