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Cigar Piccolo NEGORO STYLE

This is inspired by “Negoro-nuri”. It is a “Honkataji” finish that applies lacquer in layers after the process of “Nunokise” which is putting a cloth underneath. Since the it is covered with cloth, the diameter will be about 1mm bigger than the original one.
To express “antique” or “old” looks, creat some cracks in the lacquer to reveal the cloth underneath, we create a texture that looks like it has been used for many years.
Because it is handmade, the shape and size of the cracks design will not be the same. Basically, there is one crack across the cap and body, two long and short cracks on the body, and one or two cracks on the grip section. Base color is “Arai shu”.

“Negoro-nuri” is one of Japanese lacquer painting technique that applies vermilion lacquer on to the black lacquer applied to the base. The black lacquer underneath sometimes comes up from the vermilion lacquer coatings and looks like patterns.
“Honkataji” is a sturdy piece of work that is coated with a base layer of cloth or lacquer and then applied lacquer.

Cigar Piccolo LAVA　

This pen was designed with inspiration from lava.
Carving with a carving knife to make grooves on “Nunokise” and “Honkagaji” finish base, sprinkling gold powder to the grooves. Then sprinkle charcoal powder and paint vermilion lacquer and blur it to express lava.

Cigar Piccolo SHURO　

A design boldly arranging the palm leaves motifs. The characteristic powerful leaves of the palm are drawn on a vermilion base using silver Taka Maki-e to create hight. Also a palm leaf is drawn with gold taka Maki-e on the grip section.
The bright vermilion color goes well with the silver color of the fan-shaped palm leaves, creating a somewhat exotic finish.

Cigar Piccolo FIRE

Cigar Piccolo MONSTER CAT

This work was produced in reference to a scary cat that comes tearing through a shoji (paper sliding door) by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, an ukiyoe (woodblock print) artist of the Edo period (1603-1868).

When the cap is on, the willow tree looks beautiful through the torn shoji, but when the cap is removed, a skeleton appears in this elaborate work.
While the scary motif of the cat, like a monster cat, is on full display, the overall effect is humorous, and I was able to create a pen filled with the profound charm of cats that is more than just cuteness.

Cigar Piccolo FEATHER　

The motif of soft feather is drawn in Aka-tame sukashi.

Cigar Piccolo NOH MASK　

The illustration is drawn using iro-togidashi, a technique to which vividly-colored urushi and gold powder are applied. The expressive and glamorous design is brought to life using Iro-togidashi technique, which requires more labor as well as a high skill compared to the ordinary gold maki-e work. The fountain pen displays various views depending on the reflection of the light and the angle of view, which further enhances its beauty.

Cigar Piccolo GRAPES

A motif is “Grapes”. Grapes are famous for descendant prosperity because of a bunch of fruits and vines of grapes means unbroken continuing.

Cigar Piccolo SHAKEI-SONSETSU

The motif comes from the Shakei-Sonsetsu, a four-character idioms.
It means to study even if one is in a very difficult situation.
The four-character idioms comes from the story that Che Yin, a old Chinese politician read under the weak light of firefly in summer, and Sun Kang, a old Chinese official read with the moon light reflected by snow in winter.

Cigar Piccolo KAGUYA-HIME　

The main character of one of the oldest Japanese monogatari (fictional prose) “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter”, a young girl named “Kaguya-hime“, has become a motif for this pen depicted in different Maki-e techniques.
In order to express the beauty of Kaguya-hime we have painted her robes in Shu, Blue and Purple Colors, and gave her hair a slight feeling of volume by heaping the lacquer up a bit.
Next, we spread gold on the background, depicted silver moon and golden bamboo forest and using a coarser golden powder we created a feeling of distance around Kaguya-hime.