We make a pendant light named bisque at a metal-forming factory in the Edogawa ward in Tokyo
using a technique called metal spinning. Metal spinning is a manual metal-processing technique in
which a craftworker forms a hollow bowl shape from a single, solid, flat metal sheet that is pressed
tightly against a mold using a forming bar while the sheet is rotated. This technique is used in a wide
variety of areas such as in the aerospace industry for the nose cone of rockets as well as parabolic
antennas. Although this manual technique is not suited to mass production, even complicated
shapes can be formed by hand by skilled artisans.
Bisque in English can mean unglazed china. To give the metal-spun aluminum main body a texture
resembling white unglazed china, we spray paint the thin and lightweight aluminum surface.
We achieve weight savings by manufacturing it from a [single] thin aluminum sheet which is
only 1.2 to 1.5 mm thick. This makes even the largest sizes light enough to hang with a standard
household ceiling bracket. When we make a product, we do not usually start by devising a specific
shape or design. Mostly, product development is inspired by an encounter with a specific product
manufacturing process. We got the idea for this particular light after seeing the metal-spinning
technique in use and seeing other products made at existing factories. When we visited the metalspinning
factory for the first time, after being introduced to the process by a friend of mine, we
saw a variety of products manufactured using many different molds. What especially caught our
attention were the large bronze and aluminum main bodies of percussive musical instruments called
timpani—as used by classical music orchestras. When creating a deep bowl using a large bronze
sheet, you not only need to employ the principle of leverage but also ensure technical accuracy and
apply optimum body balance to the tip of the forming bar. At first, we made two types of pendants,
in both bronze and aluminum, by using a timpani mold without any modification. However, after
making them the same shape as the timpani and displaying them for trial purposes, we still felt
something was missing. Making a metal mold for a new product from scratch would have cost a
few million yen per mold initially. Come to think of it, product development these days often pays
less attention to the inherent nature of things and how they are made, giving higher priority to
formal efficiency and good design in order to achieve a successful business outcome based on the
balance between the initial cost and sales generated. In this age of efficiency and “profits-comingfirst,”
superficial novelty and concept are valued more for designs and products employed for
our daily use. Going down the profits-come-first route, we might have inadvertently lost sight of
the true nature of things and human life. Our target was to make 80% of the main body from an
existing timpani mold and the remaining 20% from our own mold in order to create a new product
that combined both shapes. The thematic challenge was how to create one complete product from
two separate molds by combining them in an integrated manner. Eventually, we prepared five sizes
of Bisques, and decided to make use of a timpani mold for our largest Bisque, and to use our own
molds for the other sizes.