Embellish your own piece of suzugami tin paper that can be shaped into new forms over and over again, under the guidance of Yoshinori Shimatani, one of less than ten orin singing bowl and bell artisans left in Japan. Choose from three patterns inspired by Japanese weather which are used in the making of orin: arare (hail), samidare (rain), kazahana (snowflakes).

Influenced by paper origami, suzugami tin paper was created by Yoshinori with the same techniques used to craft traditional Buddhist orin singing bowls, which his family have produced since 1909. Under the guidance of Yoshinori, a third-generation metal craftsman, you’ll add the finishing embellishment onto a piece of his suzugami tin paper using a hammer, before bending it into the first shape of your choice. Once taken home, you’ll be able to re-bend the metal into new shapes again and again such as a plate, container, or vase.

There are just three places per sessions, meaning you’ll have the full attention of Yoshinori. He’ll start the sessions with an introduction to orin, the sound of which is said to communicate with Buddha, and help brainwave activity move from a busy state to a calm and refreshed one.

About Craftsman Yoshinori Shimatani

Yoshinori is a third-generation metal craftsman and head of Shimatani Syouryu Koubou, a family business founded by Yoshinori’s great grandfather in 1909.

Born in Takaoka City, Toyama, in 1973, Yoshinori didn’t originally want to enter the family business. Planning to become a chef, he left Toyama to pursue his own dreams in Tokyo. However, a chance encounter with someone who said to him: "It's a rare and wonderful thing to be born into a family business that makes tools for the Buddha," led him to return to his hometown at the age of 23 and become an apprentice to his grandfather. “For the first five years I just listened to my grandfather’s work. It took more than 12 years to start making orin temple bells myself,” explains Yoshinori.

The family’s metal workshop has been making orin Buddhist temple bells for over 100 years. Knowing the company would not survive on making Buddhist bells alone, Yoshinori developed ‘suzugami’ (‘tin paper’) to attract younger people into the business and keep the skills of Buddhist temple bell

About Syouryu

Syouryu is the brand Shimatani Syouryu Koubou gave to their suzugami paper tin products, to differentiate this work from the specialist manufacturer of orin bowls and bells made for Buddhist temples; the core reason for their business since its establishment 113 years ago.

There are less than ten orin artisans in all of Japan and three of them work with Shimatani Syouryu Koubou. Their aim is now to continue to make new products using this metal hammering technique. See the full range of Suzugami in the Pantechnicon online store here.

Cost: £55