Kumiko Frame 165cm x 110m . The frame is constructed from African muninga wood. Asanoha kumiko pieces from ramin wood.

Koji and his wife Lina travel avidly and they wanted to chronicle their travels by scratching off countries off a world map. Koji bought the map and asked me to help make a picture frame for display in their home.

Inspiration for this piece came from my travels in Japan, where public notice boards were beautifully made of wood and all had a distinctive roof (refer to the last picture, taken in Arashiyama, Kyoto). I thought the roof was very apt for the design because - it’s like building a home and housing the world in your home, or the world is your home. No matter where we travel, home is where the heart is. And for many, the heart belongs to where family is.

To make this, stock with fiery grain was specifically chosen to make the roof portion while stock with quiet grain patterns for the frame. The four sides of the frame is then constructed using half lap joints which are further secured by a dowel only seen from the back. The vertical pieces are then joined to the roof structure by a sliding dovetail joint ensuring a tight and secure mechanical fit. The lattice work which binds the kumiko are mortised into the space formed by the top horizontal and the bottom portion of the roof.