including the Olympics,
it is the 'background' stories in sports that interest me, in this case the medal cases for the 5,000 or so medals that are given out at this years Olympics, unless
otherwise noted, all photos courtesy Shinya Yoshida,
deep in Northern Hokkaido is the town of Tsubetsu: pop 4400. It’s home to Yamagi Mokko, a 3rd
generation family owned furniture company with just 22 employees, back in 2019 the company won a contract to
design and create 5000 wooden cases for Tokyo Olympic medals,
Yamagi
Mokko’s 3rd generation president Yuichiro Yamagami bid on the contract, along with Chiba-based industrial
designer Shinya Yoshida.
The pair proposed a subtle yet striking design that blends traditional and
modern woodworking techniques. Made from locally-sourced Japanese ash wood that
would later be dyed in dark indigo blue, the cases were first created by a CNC
drill and then later finished by hand. A total of eight small magnets embedded
in the case and lid hold the two parts together, photographs below courtesy
Tokyo 2020 Olympics Committee,
the
medals themselves were designed by Junichi Kawanishi are are made from recycled cell
phone components,
the video above emphasizes the medals rather than the cases,
but towards the end you can catch glimpses of the cases being made, as I mentioned, the games themselves have absolutely no interest for myself whatsoever, it is the stories around the games and sports like this that I really enjoy.
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