Ichimi and Shichimi by Akira Mabuchi

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Industrial designer Akira Mabuchi’s latest work are these pepper shakers (1,050 yen) shaped like the character for 1 (ichi) and 7 (shichi). Beginning with a circular base, the shapes rise up from the ground to form the characters. The shakers are intended to be used for Ichimi and Shichimi – 2 different types of pepper. Ichimi is just a single type of pepper whereas shichimi is, naturally, a blend of 7 different ingredients.

It was actually these pepper shakers that inspired the previous post on Taku Satoh’s 3D hiragana. See the resemblance?

Mabuchi even created this adorable “Onigiri” soy sauce dish (1,785 yen) which, with a douse of the dark condiment, takes on the look of a riceball wrapped in seaweed.