Lasercut nori for designer sushi

‘Design Nori’, developed by international ad agency I&S BBDO for the umino seaweed shop, ‘design nori’ is a series of intricately laser-cut seaweed for rolling sushi. each sheet of five designs– ‘sakura’ (‘cherry blossoms’), ‘mizutama’ (‘water drops’), ‘asanoha’ (‘hemp’), ‘kikkou’ (‘turtle shell’), and ‘kumikkou’ (‘tortoise shell’)– is based on an element of Japanese history or symbology, meant to bring beauty, good fortune, growth, happiness, and longevity.of miyagi. umino plans to use the leftover clippings to sell as furikake topping or recompile into other sheets.

from left to right: ‘sakura’ (‘cherry blossoms’), ‘asanoha’ (‘hemp’), and ‘kikkou’ (‘turtle shell’)

Umino director Hiroyuki Umino notes that Japanese are eating less seaweed than in the past. The pieces themselves are available for sale only through the retail location in Ibaraki prefacture, currently for the price of 840 yen (approx. 10 USD) each. in the future, Umino hopes to produce the nori on a larger scale and at lower cost.

Because of the precision required in the cutting process, the seaweed itself is a thicker variety from the sanriku region the project was commissioned to respark the sale of nori following the tsunami in japan of 2011, at a time when ‘design nori’ s on exhibition through may 27th, 2012, at ‘katagami style’ of 19th century Japanese stencil artwork.

Via Design Boom.