5 ランプの仕事
1973年、七彩工芸はアメリカのチャップマン社など欧米の照明器具メーカー数社から設計デザインとノウハウ（利用技術）を導入し、照明器具及び室内装飾用品の商品開発・生産・販売のため「株式会社アート七彩」を設立しました。当社の設立は京都の老舗ファブリックメーカーである川島織物（現・川島織物セルコン）との共同出資による実現でした。*1
毛利は、取締役総合企画室長を務めていた七彩工芸を退社する形でアート七彩の代表取締役に就任しました。それ以降、当時30歳前後の若きディスプレイデザイナーで、元はスチール家具の設計、営業、製作をしていた垣花浩らとともにアンティーク調ランプの製造に日々を費やすようになります。アート七彩の工房は東京都世田谷区上町にあった七彩のアトリエ内にありましたが、ランプの支柱や土台の素材は真鍮が多く、それらの成形は富山県高岡市の工場でしていたと言います。
「昔ながらの仏具の製法で、砂型に溶かした真鍮を流し込み、鋳物の表面（砂型でザラザラ）はロクロ（刃物）で削り、バフで磨いたあと、古色（スモーキー色）に仕上げました。表面色は他にクロームメッキ、ピューター（錫）色、などもありました。*2」垣花が回想する制作の様子からは、例えば “真鍮の支柱” と一口に言っても色や肌合いには繊細な幅があり、その決定や仕上がりの確認には十分な経験と知識を要することが伝わります。
もちろん、鉄線や鉄の建材を使用した《作品（パルサー）》（1957）や《祭殿》（1963）など、毛利が金属素材を制作に使うことはそれ以前からありました。しかし、アート七彩におけるランプの製造は毛利の金属素材との距離をより縮め、金属加工に係る企業や職人との関係を拡げたり深めたりしたことでしょう。
毛利のランプの設計、製造は1978年にアート七彩の相談役として業務の最前線から退いた後も続きました。東京・自由が丘にあった家具屋デコールアートからの依頼でデコールアートのオリジナルブランド「ピーターマン」を担当ののち、新ブランド「万里」を立ち上げたりと、アンティーク調のなかにも独自性や革新性を追うようなランプのシリーズを展開していきます。この頃のランプの設計図がアトリエに多数残っています。外形の良さだけでなく、実際に灯りが点き使用もしやすいよう考慮されたランプの内部構造を透かしみせるような線や数値からは、毛利が図面や設計図を引くこと自体も大真面目に楽しんでいたことが伝わってきます。ただ、その張りつめた高揚の気分は晩年の精密工作機械による金属の作品群の設計図にあるものと何ら違わないということは興味深いポイントかもしれません。
文：メイボン尚子
*1『70年のあゆみ（七彩70年史）』株式会社七彩、2016年
*2 垣花浩からのメールより、2023年
参考
垣花浩氏への聞き取り、2024年5、6月
株式会社七彩戦略企画室担当者（渡邉啓史氏、池田公信氏）ならびに藤井秀雪氏への聞き取り、2024年5月
5 Lamps
In 1973, Nanasai Kōgei established Art Nanasai for development, production and sales of lighting fixtures and interior decoration goods. This was done by introducing design and expertise (application technology) from several lighting fixture manufacturers, including Chapman Manufacturing in the United States. The establishment of this company was made possible through joint investment with Kawashima Textiles (present day Kawashima Selkon Textiles), a long-established fabric manufacturer in Kyoto.*1
Mohri left Nanasai Kōgei, where he was Director and General Planning Office Manager, and became President of Art Nanasai. From then on, he spent his days making antique-style lamps with Hiroshi Kakihana, a young display designer then in his early 30s, who had previously worked in the design, sales and production of steel furniture. The Art Nanasai workshop was located in the Nanasai studio in Kamimachi, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo. The materials used for the lamp posts and bases were mostly brass, and those parts were moulded mainly at a factory in Takaoka City in Toyama Prefecture.
“The traditional method of making Buddhist altar fittings was used. Molten brass was poured into sand moulds, the rough surface of the castings being scraped on a lathe, and polished with a buffing machine before being given an antique finish in smoky colours. The range of surface finishes included chrome plating and pewter (tin) colours.*2” From the way Kakihana recalls the production process, it is clear that even something as simple as “a brass post” can have a wide variety of colours and textures, and that making decisions and checking the finish requires a great deal of experience and knowledge.
Of course, Mohri had been using metal materials in his work before then, such as Work (Pulsar) (1957) and Temple (1963), which used iron wires and iron building materials. However, the production of lamps at Art Nanasai must have brought Mohri even closer to metal materials, and it is likely that it expanded and deepened his relationships with companies and craftspeople involved in metal processing.
Mohri’s lamp design and production continued even after he retired from the front line of business as Advisor to Art Nanasai in 1978. He went on to develop a series of lamps that pursued originality and innovation within an antique style. After working on the original brand Pieterman for the furniture store Decor Art in Jiyugaoka, Tokyo, he launched a new brand called Banri with Decor Art. Many of the design plans from this period are still kept in the studio. The lines and numbers drawn in a way to reveal the internal structure of the lamps, which were designed not only for good external appearance but also for ease of use when the light is switched on, show that Mohri took drawing up the plans and designs ever so seriously but also undertook it with great enjoyment. It is interesting to note, however, that the tense, excited mood in those lamp design plans is no different from that in the plans for the metal-based works created using precision machines in his later years.
Text by Naoko Mabon
*1 Nanasai 70 Year History, Nanasai Co., Ltd., 2016.
*2 From an email from Hiroshi Kakihana (STEP-1 Co., Ltd.), 2023.
Reference:
– Interview with representatives from Nanasai Co., Ltd. (Keiji Watanabe and Masanobu Ikeda) and Hideyuki Fujii, May 2024.
Interviews with Hiroshi Kakihana (STEP-1 Co., Ltd.), May and June 2024.
Image captions:
– From Art Nanasai catalogue, 1973. Image courtesy of Nanasai Co., Ltd.
– Art Nanasai catalogue cover, 1973. Image courtesy of Nanasai Co., Ltd.
– Installation view from the Bushiro’s Handicrafts exhibition, Coelacanth – Mohri Bushiro Memorial Museum, 2023. Lamps designed by Chapman and Mohri were on display, along with candlesticks designed by Hiroshi Kakihana. Photo by Ryōhei Yanagihara.
– Installation view from the Bushiro’s Handicrafts exhibition, Coelacanth – Mohri Bushiro Memorial Museum, 2023. Lamps designed by Chapman and Mohri were on display, along with candlesticks designed by Hiroshi Kakihana. Photo by Ryōhei Yanagihara.