This spring, we were invited to design products to commemorate the exhibition The Architecture of Sou Fujimoto: Primordial Future Forest at Mori Art Museum. The pieces would form part of the exhibition merchandise for the museum shop, curated to showcase Japanese craftsmanship.
Sou Fujimoto is one of Japan’s most celebrated architects today, and the Site Design Producer for Expo 2025 Osaka. We were honoured to contribute to this exhibition at such an exciting time.
We proposed a range of inks, dip pen and pencils — with the ink colours personally created by Fujimoto through Inkstand’s signature colour creation service.
Despite his busy schedule in the lead-up to the Expo, he generously made time to create the colours with us in person at his studio.
As we introduced Inkstand’s concept of creating your own colour and explained the process, he was immediately deep in thought, carefully considering his colour ideas.
Looking over the base colours and swatches, he shared memories of landscapes from his hometown of Higashikagura, Hokkaido, and from Paris, where one of his studios is located.
‘In Hokkaido, just before sunset, the sky isn’t a burning red — it’s a soft pink,’ he recalled. ‘And in Paris, the stunning pink skies in Monet’s paintings really do exist’.
He shared another fond memory: ‘Hokkaido’s forests glow with light as sunlight filters through the trees — it’s a green that makes you feel happy.’
Our meeting ended with these evocative recollections as the inspiration for two ink colours.
In the following weeks, he personally reviewed each colour iteration, working with us to refine the shades until they felt just right.
Finally, our two colours came to life.
End of the Day
In the hour when contours begin to dissolve
all that has form is held in the afterglow of light,
and with the fading sky
slips into a landscape without shape.
Spring Forest
Signs of budding life slowly spread,
blurring the space between within and without.
The delicate wavering of life
softens the boundaries of architecture and landscape.
Kakimori’s director, Takuma Hirose, is currently based in Hokkaido, and has also encountered the very hues that inspired Fujimoto — making these colours all the more meaningful to us.
To accompany these special inks, we created a dip pen holder, as well as a series of pencils that make a delightful souvenir of the exhibition.
The nib holder is made from Japanese cherry wood, meticulously crafted in Kumano, Hiroshima Prefecture — a town renowned for its traditional brushes, Kumano-fude. Its simple silhouette is adorned only with Fujimoto’s laser-engraved signature in an elegant, understated design.
The triangular pencils were made in collaboration with a long-standing pencil manufacturer in Katsushika, Tokyo. Each pencil is printed with Fujimoto’s favourite phrases, which also appear throughout the exhibition, along with scribble sketches featured in the Open Circle installation. The pencils are unfinished to showcase the natural texture of the wood.
The result is a range that reflects the spirit of Japanese craftsmanship and the connection to nature that is central to all of Fujimoto’s work.
Each item embodies his worldview and is brought to life through our own creative lens, offering visitors a piece of his unique vision to take home. We hope you enjoy these designs, available exclusively at the museum for the duration of the exhibition.
Exhibition information
The Architecture of Sou Fujimoto: Primordial Future Forest
Venue:
Mori Art Museum (53F, Roppongi Hills Mori Tower)
Dates:
2 July - 9 November 2025
Presented by:
Mori Art Museum
https://www.mori.art.museum/jp/exhibitions/soufujimoto/