2025 | Professional

MUSE Design Awards Platinum Winner

Fat Wood Byobu

Entrant Company

Muneji Toh Architects

Category

Lighting Design - Innovative Lighting Design

Client's Name

Country / Region

Japan

We created a Byobu using fat wood, which is rich in resin. Byobu is a traditional Japanese folding screen. As the name suggests, it blocks the wind, blocks views, and acts as a partition to divide space. The fat wood is a precious material that can be extracted from pines, which is rich in resin that are over hundreds of years old. The resin, which has accumulated over many years, changes a red color when it catches light, unlike other trees. This material is combined with Byobu to create Fat Wood Byobu. Fat Wood Byobu glows a bewitching red in the light.
The resin of pine, which has long been disliked because it is high in resin and difficult to use and maintain, has been transformed into a beautiful material through various processing techniques and changed it to an advanced design. By transforming previously unused wood into beautiful materials and creating Byobu, we recycle the fat wood of our forest resource.
Fat Wood Byobu have 3 functions. By using special joints called " string hinges " to connect the panels, Fat Wood Byobu can be transformed into various shapes, and its function also changes.
1. Partiton
2. Art Wall
3. Lighting Fixture
When Fat Wood Byobu catches light, the pattern changes depending on whether it is straight grain or cross grain, creating a unique pattern of wood grain and resin.
However, the fat wood is high in resin, and when the resin rises to the surface it becomes dirty with dust, so a special coating is used to prevent the resin from rising to the surface while preserving the beauty and grain of the wood, and to ensure functionality.
The fat wood catches the light and glows a bewitching red, like wooden stained glass. As the resin ages, it permeates the entire grain of the wood, and the surface changes to an amber color, lighting up with a deeper red. We believe that Fat Wood Byobu, which makes use of the characteristics of woods will be an advanced design that will add elegance to a variety of spaces.

Credits

Muneji Toh Architects
Muneji Toh
More Platinum Winners
Lighting
2025
MUSE Design Awards - Mel's Restaurant & Bar(Wangjing Branch)

Entrant Company

Uniimport

Category

Lighting Design - Restaurants (Interior Lighting)

Fashion
2025
MUSE Design Awards - Butterflies lingering over flowers

Entrant Company

Dong Jie

Category

Fashion Design - Jewelry

Interior
2025
MUSE Design Awards - Yongyang International Hotel

Entrant Company

Guo Fang, Ma Liu, Wang Zheng

Category

Interior Design - Hotels & Resorts

Interior
2025
MUSE Design Awards - Wenzhou Qingshan Sulawesi Hotel

Entrant Company

Hangzhou Chentao Interior Design Co., Ltd./Tao Chen/Xuejun Chen /Wenjie Lu

Category

Interior Design - Hotels & Resorts