Momentum Factory Orii: The Art of Coloring Copper in Takaoka
For generations, Momentum Factory Orii in Takaoka, Toyama, has specialized in one step of making Takaoka copperware: coloring. Pushing the possibilities of that craft as far as they will go, it has created countless coloring techniques, and products that reveal just how deep the art of color on metal can be.
Takaoka, a town of craftsmen
Takaoka's metalworking history began in 1611, two years after the town was founded, when its lord invited seven casters to settle there. Copper casting became its signature, and today Takaoka produces about 95% of Japan's copperware. The work has always been divided among specialists, each refining their own step, which is why so many distinctive brands come from this town, including Nousaku and syouryu.
From finisher to maker
For a company that had only ever colored other people's castings, becoming a maker was no small step. But it had one thing no one else did: exceptional coloring skill. Mr. Orii decided not just to make things that showed off the technique, but things people today would actually want, especially younger people. His answer was interior goods combining color and design.
Breaking with convention
To make interior pieces, he needed metal far thinner than the 4 mm cast sheet that was standard. So he made a bold decision: to step away from casting, Takaoka's tradition, and use copper sheet thinned by rolling mills. Traditional industries usually avoid changing their methods; this was not a step forward but a leap.
The thin rolled sheet could not be colored reliably with the usual methods, and problem after problem emerged. He kept experimenting, even with techniques others called unorthodox, and after three years created the material he had imagined.
The result of momentum
Absorbed in trial and error, the workshop kept adding new techniques and colors that would never have been born from its traditional work alone, and they improved that traditional coloring work too. The colored copper sheets have since been used for hotel walls, the entrance of Takaoka Station and local shrines, and of course for the interior products Mr. Orii first imagined.
"Momentum" means impetus or drive. It is that momentum that brought the workshop to where it is today, and we are sure it will keep creating new things. Our thanks to Momentum Factory Orii.
