SPCS｜Season3 Designing Instability with Katsunobu Yoshida

Ink, crayons, paint, dyes. We colour everything. Many of the things we use in our daily lives are mass-produced products that are designed with consistent colour reproducibility. Any instability is not tolerated. But how do our means of expression change when we accept the instability of colour? And when we do, will the possibilities for manufacturing methods also expand, allowing for more diverse raw materials, new manufacturing processes and production methods?

This new season of SPCS spans 2 months, in which participants will forage and experiment with harvesting ink from their own found materials. The lead lecturer will be Graphic Designer Katsunobu Yoshida. In his project – Foraged Colors, he collects all manners of materials to develop pigments and binders. Instead of choosing a predetermined colour to create, his process results in the creation of unplanned colours. In doing so, he hopes to create new colours that will expand the possibilities of creative expression.

The two essential ingredients for any ink are the pigment and the medium. In this workshop, we will create both, but with a stronger focus on experimental mediums, so that we might develop original new inks. Over the course of two months, with 20 participants, we would have created a total of over 20 different pigments and mediums, mixing other participants’ mediums and pigments with your own might birth interesting new permutations! (Can 20 pigments x 20 mediums make 400 different inks?) These different permutations will be released as an open-source recipe book after the workshop. Let’s create many new colours together to show the world!

The Kihada plant reveals a striking yellow right under its skin. These are images of Yoshida harvesting colour from the Kihada bark.

The making of an oil-based binder

Testing the colour-fastness of different mediums

From letterpress to block printing, Yoshida experiments with a variety of methods to use with his inks

Yoshida is currently in a team called Studies which is researching new developments in the field of chemical-free dyeing. Instead they use earth or clay with a dyeing technique similar to marbling. If any materials in this workshop have the potential to be developed into dyes, they will be incorporated into the Studies project.

The Studies team at work. (Photos by Yujiro Ichioka)

This workshop is held in collaboration with graphic designer Yoshida Katsunobu, who has worked on Foraged Colors since 2020, a project that will span 6 years. The mission of Foraged Colors is to ‘produce colors from materials gathered from the sea and mountains, implementing these colors in contemporary society’ through the following 6 steps – gathering materials from the mountains and seas, turning plant dye into pigment, making materials finer and making environmentally friendly-binders. He is also actively obtaining patents and working on new possibilities in coloring.

Yoshida will also be exhibiting at the London Design Biennale 2023 (Japan Pavilion) Future Rural Japan at Somerset House in the UK from 1-25 June 2023, which is one working goal of the Foraged Colors project.

※ The London Design Biennial is a global stage for world-leading contemporary design and design-led innovation, creativity and research. The theme for 2023 is ‘Remapping Collaboration’.

14th April 2023 (Fri) 18:00-21:00　@Online

1. Introduction
2. On Ink
   1. Learn about pigments
   2. Learn about mediums
   3. Basics of printmaking 

• Homework
  • Forage material with the potential to be pigments and medium

30th April (Sun) 14:00-17:00　@FabCafe Kyoto

1. Ice-breaker | Grinding foraged materials
2. Mixing foraged pigments into mediums 
3. Experimenting with painting

• Homework
  • Documenting the process
    • Hypotheses, validation and challenges
    • Experiment data, recipes
  • Material collection and verification

26th May (Fri) 19:00-21:00　@Online

1. Sharing presentation on mediums, pigments and trial print results
2. Feedback and Knowledge sharing
3. Receive advice on printing methods

• Homework
  • Further testing based on feedback received
  • Documenting experimentation process
    • Hypotheses, validation and challenges
    • Experiment data, recipe documentation

18th June（Sunday）14:00-17:00　@FabCafe Kyoto

1. Screen-making and preparation（Optional）
2. Printing final projects（Exhibition to be held in FabCafe）
3. Mixer

• Designers, architects and developers interested in biophilic design, who are seeking ways to work with plants in urban planning and landscape design
• Researchers and artists who want to incorporate themes of plants, insects, microscopic organisms and biodiversity in their work.
• Planners and designers in Japanese culture businesses who are interested in redesigning their businesses with themes of Circularity and Biodiversity as their core values
• People who are interested in exploring the relationship between humans and nature and the environment in a creative way.
• Architects and manufacturers designing relationships between nature and humans.
• Designers and creators who want to find new inspiration from natural phenomena or develop new methods of expression.
• Planning and R&D professionals in companies working on circular design.
• Those interested in biology and biological design who want to learn how to explore and gather temporal information.

Friday 14 April, 18:00-21:00

Sunday 30 April, 14:00-17:00

Friday 26 May, 19:00-21:00

Sunday 18 June, 14:00-17:00

20 people

30,000 yen (price for all four sessions)

Day1,3: Online
Day2,4: FabCafe Kyoto (554 Hon Shiogama-cho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto)

FabCafe Kyoto / Loftwork Co.

• If there are too many sign-ups, there may be a possibility that we choose participants through a raffle. We ask for your understanding on this matter.
• Photos of participants and the event may be uploaded to the FabCafe Kyoto/Loftwork.com website at a later date
• We reserve the right to change this program with no prior notice.