Culture et nature entretiennent une relation de complémentarité, voire d'homologie, dans le design japonais. Hotai, le nom de cette lampe, veut justement dire “complément”, une structure où trois éléments (le bois, le quartz et la lumière) coïncident pour créer une forme incomplète et pourtant esthétique. Le principe de fukinsei, ou déséquilibre, fait allusion à l'absence de symétrie dans le monde naturel, où la précision formelle absolue de chaque élément n'existerait pas, que ce soit de la courbure du bois, de la sphère minérale ou de la projection artificielle de la lumière.
It is through design that a bridge is built between the deliberate, ideal action of culture and the chance, unequal action of nature. This complement constitutes a circuit between both: to the sphere (whose natural veins, however, completely unbalanced) follows the wooden curve (whose circularity remains incomplete) and finally a lightbulb whose illumination returns to the sphere highlighting the colors and inclusions of each kind of mineral. Nevertheless, the dominion and straight character of the rays of light is denied by the inside of the quartz, which refracts them, fragmenting their direction in uncontrollable, unforeseen manners.
In this sense, the manipulation of cedar follows a traditional technique called yakisugi, in which the wood is burned to make it more resistant. The culture-nature relationship, therefore, is revealed as complementary, where the action of human beings highlights that of nature, whether in the patterns of the wood or the mineral, and where natural action highlights the beauty of the manipulation of materials by human beings.
