This holiday season, why not shake things up a little by baking your holiday cookies in the shape of sukashi-buroku, Japanese decorative concrete cinder blocks. These blocks are ubiquitous throughout residential neighborhoods of Japan, forming walls between homes, yards and roads. They can be easily overlooked but are all beautiful in their own right.

Miyama (seigaiha wave design)


These sukashi-buroku are primarily used for decorative purposes but they also allow for cross-ventilation and light to filter in, making them a popular choice around homes throughout Japan. They come in a variety of designs that are often based on traditional Japanese motifs.

The Kyoto-based Sac Sac, a self-described “cookie cutter museum,” creates all types of art and design-inspired cookie cutters and these sukashi-buroku cookie cutters are part of their latest line-up.

Each cookie cutter yields cookies about 3.6 x 6.6 cm (1.4 x 2.6 in) and retail for 1,100 yen (about $10). And the greyish cookies seen here are made from black sesame seed to give them the appearance of concrete! (thx クララ)

Renzoku-ana (consecutive hole design)


Igeta (well frame design)


Hishigata (diamond design)