Japanese woodblock printing at Material Source Glasgow
Last Thursday, we welcomed Glasgow’s architecture and design community to Material Source Studio for an evening of Japanese woodblock printing with artist Paul Furneaux. Paul specialises in mokuhanga, a traditional Japanese printmaking technique using watercolour pigments, Japanese paper and hand-carved woodblocks. The workshop offered guests the chance to step away from their usual routines, work with timber in a completely different way and create their own contemporary prints.
Exploring mokuhanga
Paul guided the group through the mokuhanga process, sharing his expertise and demonstrating how different textures, layers and pigments can be built up to create a finished print.
It wasn’t long before the tables were covered in colour, paper and works in progress, with everyone taking the technique in a slightly different direction. The finished prints were completely individual, combining colour, pattern and layered detail in different ways.
Giving timber offcuts a new purpose
Some of the timber used during the workshop came from offcuts created during our in-house grading process, which helps ensure quality while saving time and cost on-site.
We handpicked pieces with interesting textures and figuring details that could add something unique to the printing process.
Reuse and sustainability are an important part of how we work at Russwood. Through our sample takeback scheme, timber samples can be reused or repurposed, while production offcuts from our Newtonmore HQ fuel biomass boilers that heat our office and production buildings, helping to reduce our carbon footprint.
For one evening, though, a selection of those offcuts found a very different use, as part of the creative process itself.
Bringing the design community together
The workshop was a chance to step away from the day-to-day, try something different and spend time with others from Glasgow’s architecture and design community. Between prints, guests could catch up over drinks and nibbles, compare what they’d made and see how differently everyone had approached the same technique.
It made for a relaxed evening of making, learning and conversation.
A huge thank you to Paul Furneaux for sharing his knowledge with us, to Material Source Studio Glasgow for having us, and to everyone who came along and made the evening such an enjoyable one.
Highlights gallery
Stay in the loop! Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates & insights.
