AMAZING CRAYONS MADE FROM REAL WOOD CELEBRATES JAPANS BEAUTIFUL DIVERSE FORESTS

Japan is not following the trend of planting more trees to combat deforestation and is instead focusing on repurposing its plentiful timber. The country has vast forest coverage, with approximately twice as many tree species as European or North American woodlands. Taking advantage of this abundant natural resource, designers Daniel Coppen and Saki Maruyama from Playfool recently discovered an innovative way to use it by producing a set of Forest Crayons.

Their research was initiated while they were on a residency funded by the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. During this period, they discovered that Japan had an excess of wood and started to experiment with different types of timber to uncover its potential applications. They conducted activities such as shaving, boiling, blending, and even tasting the wood. Ultimately, they ground the wood to a fine powder and found that each species produced its own unique pigment or hue. It was at this point that the concept of the Forest Crayons came into existence.

To make the crayons, the two procured wood from various parts of Japan, mixed melted wax with ground-up natural pigments, and then poured the mixture into moulds. According to the designers' website, "Each set includes ten crayons, each with a colour derived solely from a different species of native Japanese tree, such as cedar, hazenoki, and katsura."