Ron Pendant
Designed by Toshiyuki Tani
Ron brings together two Japanese crafts: the washi lantern-making of Mito and the bamboo work of Suruga. A wide, softly layered pendant, its shade is reversible. Turn it upside down and it takes on a fresh expression, one lamp with two characters.
Thin washi paper is wrapped around fine resin strips, allowing the light to pass softly and evenly while minimising shadow from the shade itself. At the top and bottom, straight lines of Suruga bamboo spiral out in a fine radiating pattern.
When lit, Ron casts this pattern across the room, making its shadow part of the design as much as the shade itself.
Handcrafted in Japan.
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Ron is a meeting of two traditions. The shade belongs to Mito, one of Japan's major lantern-making regions: thin washi paper is wrapped around fine PET resin strips with starch paste, its surface treated to resist water and dirt. The strips are set closely together, so the paper glows evenly and casts little shadow - a more delicate light than a lantern usually gives.
The bamboo belongs to Suruga, a craft traditionally used for insect cages and fine decorative pieces, where thin rounded strips are bent into rings. Here that bending is left aside: each strip is kept straight, and softness is found instead in how they are combined and set in a fine, twisting, radiating pattern that spirals out from the centre.
As Toshiyuki Tani puts it, the aim was "to express softness with only straight lines and their combination" - warmth drawn not from curves, but from the quiet rhythm of straight lines, spiralled together.
The two materials play opposite roles, as they do in Tsumugi: where the washi minimises shadow, the straight Suruga bamboo, set at both the top and the bottom of the shade, composes it.
Lit, Ron draws a fine, radiating pattern of shadow across the walls and surfaces around it. This is not a side effect but part of the design: the piece is as much the light it casts as the object itself, and its full beauty appears only once it is switched on and the room fills with its quiet, spiralling shadow. Because the bamboo frames both ends, Ron reads equally well either way up: its shade is reversible, and turned upside down it takes on a fresh expression, so a single pendant offers two characters.
Both crafts Ron draws on: Mito's lanterns and Suruga's bamboo are traditions carried down through generations. These are techniques made to last, rooted in Japanese culture, and Ron carries them forward.
Its smaller scale makes it an easy piece to place: at home in a room of ordinary proportions, and well suited to being hung in clusters, two, three or more together, at the same height or staggered, where the shadows they cast overlap and multiply. It is also suitable in a hotel or restaurant.
- Washi paper shade on PET resin frames
- Straight Suruga bamboo
- White textile cord (3 metres)
- E27 socket in porcelain (not included). Recommended bulb: clear, warm-white, around 800 lumens (equivalent to a traditional 60W bulb; roughly 7–9W as an LED). A clear - not frosted - bulb gives the crisp, defined shadow the design is made for.
- Width: 46 cm
- Height: 35 cm
- Depth: 46 cm
- Weight: 410 g
Ron is shipped in a solid outer cardboard box.
Dust can be removed from the shade using a soft dry cloth.
Japanese Craftsmanship
- Gently bent bamboo that will naturally deepen into a warm amber hue over time. The lines are formed with resin and glue (instead of traditional bamboo) to let light flow freely, avoiding harsh shadows.
- Translucent washi shade: meticulously produced by Mito - one of Japan’s largest lantern makers - this paper shade offers an authentic touch of heritage and artistry.
“We challenged ourselves to find new ways of using bamboo and washi paper so their softness and structure really shine.”
Designed by
Toshiyuki Tani
A Japanese designer and craftsman, Toshiyuki Tani bridges centuries-old bamboo traditions and contemporary design. His work is defined by a deep reverence for natural form, the hands that shape it, and the light that moves through it.