Daily Times

Creativity has no bar and we come across umpteen examples of people expressing their creativity through a variety of mediums on social media on a daily basis. But one individual who has truly taken her passion to the next level is Japanese artist Yukiko Morita who combines two of her passions, her love for bread and art, to create a unique product: Pampshades. “Pan (Japanese for bread) + ‘lamp shade’= pampshades,” Morita explains on her website.

The idea, she reveals, struck her when she was working at a small bakery in Kyoto.

“While working as a staff member at a bakery when I was a student, I noticed the various interesting possibilities being made out of bread – that I had never seen before. Bread looks the same every day but can be completely different depending on the daily temperature and humidity, the condition of the yeast and the artisan who makes it. It is like a living thing, lovely and endearing and I fell in love with bread. I had studied art at school and immediately wondered if I could create a work of art with the charm of bread,” she told indianexpress.com.

Soon after, Morita started experimenting with bread. “For instance, I would slice it into thin slices and look at it under a microscope, or take it to the woods to take photographs and observe the mould,” she shared. However, it would be days until she would have that moment of Eureka. “Finally, one evening, I had hollowed out and eaten a loaf of bread, leaving only a thin crust. At that moment, the setting sun shone through the window and the hollowed-out bread seemed to glow. I was awe-struck and thought, “This is what I’ve been looking for!” This was the beginning of my bread light,” Morita revealed.

Today, after tweaking the idea, the artist makes pampshades using the bread that arrives at the atelier. “It is carefully hollowed out, dried thoroughly in a drying room, coated with a special resin paint and treated with a preservative fungicide. This is repeated a few times to create a firm film over the entire bread. Once the bread shade is completed, the next is electrical components – assembling and soldering the LED lights and setting them up,” she continued.

To minimise waste, she actively purchases unsold bread from bakeries, and also uses leftover dough that was destined to be thrown away. “To make the lamp shades, we also buy frozen bread that is close to its expiration date,” she said, explaining her business’ sustainable practices.

The pampshades may look delicious, but Morita warns that they are not edible because of the anti-bacterial and anti-fungal coating on top of them. Currently, it comes in eight designs – pain à la coupe, croissant, champignon, toast, baguette, batard, boule and petit boule-with prices ranging from ¥5,445 to ¥15,400. Talking about her favourite bread, Morita exclaimed its baguettes! “Although baguettes are made from very simple ingredients, each bakery has its own character and I believe it is a very profound bread. I also enjoy eating baguettes as sandwiches on weekends.”