Dining Room Ceiling

Materials: bamboo, bamboo shades

1992

In continuing to include Japanese oriented elements to my house, I decided to create a “traditional” bamboo ceiling in my dining room. I made the super-structure out of bamboo poles and topped the entire structure with bamboo shades. It worked really well with the traditional shoji screens that a friend gave to me. They were traditional and real. She contracted with a group of Japanese craftsmen in Manhattan to build her 14 screens that she wanted to use in her business in NYC. She ended up having to close her business down and knowing how enamored I was with them, she offered them to me. This happened just as I was constructing my house. I had to redesign and rebuild the office/dining room wall to be able to incorporate these magnificent sliding screens. BTW- the craftsmen were from Japan and they built each screen in her office space. Each screen was hand-crafted, cutting all the wood members and sandwiching traditional rice paper between those wooden framing members. Given what she paid for each of these screens, I was very fortunate to have been given such original and authentic pieces of art. I could never have been able to purchase them. Thanks Terry!!