This is the story of Takesada Shoten and the inexplicable charm of bamboo. Japanese have long revered bamboo, enchanted by its beauty and delicacy, captivated by its flexibility, strength and versatility as a building material. Takesada Shoten was founded in Kyoto and originally established in 1877, bamboo artisans who have a rich and enduring heritage. Over generations, they have cultivated their own traditions — honouring timeworn techniques while quietly refining and innovating. Master craftspeople they create bamboo wallpanels and installations with precision & grace.
Uniquely flexible yet very strong, fine and delicate and with a smooth lustre, bamboo makes for a compelling building product. Kyoto’s unique climate, cultural environment and skilled processing have produced numerous renowned bamboos which are considered traditional Kyoto crafts. Thus Takesada Shoten’s bamboo artisans have created a wonderful and beautiful selection of designs.
Each and every bamboo is observed from the shoot, hand-chosen & then matched for its own characteristics to suit the use.
Precision
Bamboo is a natural product and requires depth of knowledge and meticulous precision. With flat-split processing they can achieve 0.1mm level precision
Flat split
Bamboo can be processed in a variety of widths from 2mm-60mm, different colours and several different ways of splitting. This is a Hirawari panel, known as flat split, the profile is less round and traditionally used in Kyoto townhouses
Hammer split
An absolutely beautiful bamboo panel, known as Hishigi it is made using a specific tool. The cracks provide the charm and thus it is a popular decoration in Kyoto homes. Below you can see it being made.
Half Split
More curvaceous than the flat split panel the half split is more three dimensional. Here you can see dyed green bamboo (natural green bamboo fades), black bamboo with fading, and white bamboo. In this case the white bamboo is more refined with the sides shaved off. So many options.
Parallel Split
Bamboo in cross-section is revealed, a fascinating repetition. The outer-sides are retained whilst the front and back are shaved off, and depending upon the width and position of the bamboo nodes the look changes. When thick and robust the result is more three-dimensional whilst thin and delicate bamboo is planar.
Silk Tree is Liberty Fabrics’ joyful and contemporary re-interpretation of a Chinoiserie design. A canopy of trees and bamboo branches shoot upwards, elongating your room, and are decorated with birds, butterflies, Persian silk tree flowers, Chinese physalis, amaryllis, and peonies. Printed either on 100% linen or a wallpaper in several charming colour-ways.
Vertigo Weave is dynamic with good texture and a ton of energy. Pictured here is Vesuvio which is one of the ‘great reds’, and there are 2 other colours, Piccadilly, and Sahara.
Evanescent is fabulously bold, colourful and playful, yet it is sophisticated taking its lead from Futurist paintings. A printed linen it comes in two scales.
Liberty Interior fabrics do a charming peachy rust and it tones so well with navys.
Indoor-Outdoor 'Persian Voyage in palm green.
From the verdant Jade Collection for indoors & outdoors
'Palazzo', a curvaceous geometric jacquard.
On the top "Ottoman Spot".
Persian Voyage and Palampore Trail in Jade.
On the very pretty armchair is “Botanical Flora”. Printed on a cotton velvet with 7% modal to add a flowing hand. This design celebrates the historic tradition of botanical illustration.
"Botanical Stripe" wallpaper draws from the craft of flower pressing and is printed using a fine mesh gravure technique. Matte and metallic pigments are layered upon the paper creating a luminescence reminiscent of Victorian cyanotypes
A gentle colour palette from the “Tree of Life” collection.
Liberty sets the tone with these mood boards