[Lacquer/Earrings] About sustainable materials wood, lacquer, and precious metals

About sustainable material “wood”

・Woods are sustainable resources

Wood is essential for making wood crafts. Its collection is possible by repeating felling and natural regeneration for natural trees (clear-cutting a wide area requires planting), and for artificial forests, repeating the process of planting, caring for, felling, processing, and consuming. It also leads to better health.

・Japanese forest situation

In order to continue to ensure the sustainability of trees, it is important to first learn about the forest situation in Japan.

Japan is one of the world's most forested countries, with approximately 67% of the country's land area covered by forests, which has remained flat for several decades. On the other hand, the amount of forest reserves is increasing year by year, and the current situation is that the artificial forests that have been planted are being left alone. This is a problem caused by the lack of wood after the war, which led to a lot of planting, but when cheap wood started flowing in from overseas, the number of domestic forestry workers decreased sharply, resulting in a lack of maintenance and a decline in logging. As a result, in addition to expanding deforestation around the world, Japan's forestry industry has declined, resulting in the negative impact of forest devastation.

・To continue to ensure sustainability

Degradation of forests increases the risk of lower carbon dioxide absorption rates and landslides. In order to solve these problems, it is important to improve the consumption rate of the country's forest resources.

In order to raise the labor costs for forest management, a virtuous cycle (sustainable) cannot be created unless domestic timber is purchased and used at a fair price.

*Kikondo will only use domestically produced materials from now on, except for what we currently have in stock.

About the sustainable material “lacquer”

・Lacquer production decreases year by year

In Japan, due to high economic growth, production has decreased due to reliance on Chinese lacquer, and currently more than 90% of the lacquer used in Japan is Chinese lacquer. Moreover, the production of Chinese lacquer has been decreasing in recent years. Lacquer can be collected from trees that are over 10 years old, and the amount of sap that can be collected from one tree per year is only about 200g. The number of lacquer trees is decreasing, and there are concerns that the number of lacquer pickers who plant and care for them is also decreasing.

・Various functionality and high durability

Lacquer is used not only as a paint, but also as an adhesive and a material for sculptures. It is a highly durable material with various properties such as water resistance, antiseptic properties, alkali resistance, acid resistance, insect repellency, and antibacterial properties, so even if it breaks or becomes dirty, it can be repaired and repaired as long as there is a lacquer craftsman. You can continue using it semi-permanently.

・Reason why lacquer is no longer used

Although the culture of lacquer has been passed down for a long time, it is not as familiar today as it was in the past. The reason for this is that after the period of high economic growth, lacquer was not used in industrial technology because it was valuable and difficult to handle, and instead, people preferred to consume inexpensive mass-produced products. Specifically, these include the plastic that is used as the material for the product and the acrylic paint that is used as the paint. However, although these products have advantages such as low price and ease of mass production, it has been found that they can lead to serious environmental pollution and adverse effects on the human body.

・To continue to ensure sustainability

Why not take another look at lacquer in order to help solve this social problem?

Lacquer is a material whose safety has been proven over a long history, and even if it is thrown away into nature, it will not pollute the environment. Cultivating lacquer trees and increasing the self-sufficiency rate of lacquer will further strengthen environmental conservation, improve forest conditions, and sustain traditional crafts using lacquer.

About sustainable materials “precious metals”

Once you throw away precious metals, they are just unburnable garbage, but if you use a bullion purchase service, even if they are damaged, they can be turned into cash according to the market price of bullion, making them sustainable materials. The purchasing company buys, refines, recycles, and sells the bullion, so it is a sustainable material.

Consideration for sustainability in design

In addition to the sustainability of materials, Kikondo also considers sustainability in design. Based on the concept of "simple and luxurious design," we strive to ensure that our products can be used by generations with "designs that can be repaired and repaired."

For long-lasting jewelry such as earrings and pendants, please consider Kikondo's jewelry line.

In addition to the jewelry line , we also have a light line .