ABOUT
Kyoto Research Institute is dedicated to the study of Japan’s rich natural resources and traditional techniques that craft what we call "heritage materials."
We do not stop at research. Exploring, experimenting, and ultimately executing how these heritage materials have functional, sustainable, and aesthetic value in our lives today, is our core purpose. Particularly focused on execution of urban and rural planning, public infrastructure, place-based education, and architectural reorientation.
What are heritage materials?
At Kyoto Research Institute, we define heritage materials as raw natural resources like rice, seaweed, hemp, tea, and bamboo, that through the hands of traditional technique, transform into the materials that create our everyday living. Examples of heritage materials include washi paper, koji-fermented grains, and earthen walls.
In Japan, we call “to live” or “to create living”, 衣食住 i-shoku-jyu. Quite literally clothing-food-home. These are the three fundamental sectors that constitute the Japanese art of living. Our approach to the research of heritage materials is to tune in to the archipelago’s raw natural resources and how they have historically been used across each of these sectors.
