Noriko's Bureau: Lacquerware and Love

 This non-fiction is all about Bagan lacquerware, an amoire that turned into a bureau... and love.

In late 2014, I was working as a marketing specialist consultant in handicrafts for UNIDO in Bagan, Myanmar. In conducting some qualitative research, I was fortunate to have met a British/Ukrainian master artisan by the name of veronica Gritsenko: A former rocket scientist, then fashion designer and over the past 20 years had established herself as a master of lacquerware and designer in Bagan lacquerware. An amazing woman (see Fig.1). 

Fig.1: Min Arkar Zaw (left) and Veronica Gritsenko (right)

After the consultancy, Veronica and I built a relationship based on a mutual exchange of knowledge. Veronica taught me the technical knowledge about the making of lacquerware and the intricacies of local lacquerware value chains. In return, I taught her some basic principles of marketing – today, that professional relationship has continued but has also turned into a warm and personal friendship. 

In 2015, I wanted to give my wife, Noriko an exclusive gift of love in thanks for her support in allowing me the opportunity of conducting PhD research on ‘handicrafts and marketing’ – topics that I love. One morning Noriko complained about not having space for her jewellery and scarves, in my mind an armoire was needed. Next question in my mind was “What would make this armoire super special and reflect my ‘love’ and gratitude? The answer, was simple – commission a Bagan lacquerware piece. Here we were living in Myanmar, I was doing a PhD on handicrafts and one of the best lacquerware designers in Myanmar is a personal friend. The planets were aligned for the project.

Next thoughts were “Which design form should be chosen for the armoire?” Then quickly followed by “What lacquerware design themes should we do?” Flicking through Google images for ‘armoires’, a final structural design was selected. The size that matched Noriko’s height was measured out and Aye Pe (my full-time carpenter that I had employed for four years in Yangon), went to work making the armoire from recycled teak boards, see Fig. 2: Aye Pe making armoire & Fig. 3: Finished teak armoire ready for lacquer. It took him 14 weeks to complete the armoire. Fig. 4 shows the Black Elephant masters collecting the armoire ready for lacquerware application.

Fig. 2: Aye Pe - all made by hand                              Fig. 3: Made from recycled Burmese teak

                               Fig. 4: Lacquer Masters from Black Elephant, Noriko & Aye pe

For the lacquerware design I wanted something special. The outside appearance had to signify ‘royal elegance of timeless beauty’. As it ages it is to further amplify its beauty, just like my wife Noriko, as she ages, I see more beauty within her. To achieve this I wanted the “thitsi” (black natural lacquer) to be applied using traditional lacquering methods and bone-ash used in the “thayo” (base seal), with cotton gauze and minimum 8 layers, with a flat (not polished) finish. The outside of the armoire was to be all black with only a hint of etchings that would entice and suggest to the viewer that there is more to this piece of furniture than meets the eye. Eventually after intoxicatingly looking at the outside, it forces the viewer to look even deeper, to start exploring and begin opening doors. Every day I am captivated at looking deeper into the traits that make-up Noriko’s persona and I am still learning and discovering more about her each day. 

For the inside etching designs, I wanted something special, something that only Noriko could enjoy, selfishly, specifically for her pleasure and, “for her eyes only… “.  Veronica was given full freedom to create the designs. She explained that she wanted to start a series of exclusive one-off project pieces and she would like to start her “V series” with ‘Noriko’s bureau’ shown in Fig. 5 below. Veronica could never say ‘armoire’, so she called the piece - Noriko’s Bureau. In numerous discussions between Joe and Veronica, it was decided that the interior etching designs would be a history of Veronica’s work progressing from early designs using cranes, to her more current designs with gourds, chrysanthemums, turtles, owls and tigers. 

  Fig. 5: Veronica's V-Series designs has 'Bagan'

Veronica filled the inner spaces of the ‘bureau’ with an amazing mix of traditional and contemporary designs and her own unique technique of applying pigment colours (in Fig. 6, 7, 8 and 9). One could spend an hour looking closely and getting lost within each of the inner panels. Then the closer one looks, one can see each of the individual scratches made by the many etching ladies who worked on Noriko’s bureau within Black Elephant Studios.

Fig, 6: Owls on back of Noriko's Bureau

Fig. 7: Owls and Flowers on inside panel door.

Fig. 8: Turtles in a side panel.

Fig. 9: Back of Noriko's Bureau

It took 1.5 years to complete the lacquerware thitsi and design work. For those not familiar with the lacquerware process it’s a very time consuming process, please visit  https://bagandaytours.com/bagan-lacquerware-how-an-artisan-creats-a-masterpiece/.

The finished bureau arrived by bus on the second day of packing in Yangon prior to relocating to Geneva, Switzerland. Joe went to hardware store on 23^rd Street in downtown Yangon and purchased the door knobs. The mirror was put on hastily and was disfigured. Inner side panels had also been slightly damaged by screws.  Once relocated in France, the bureau sat in pieces in the basement for a further 1.5 years as Joe was too busy finalising his PhD. Then after PhD was submitted, with a friend (Peter, coming from Copenhagen) the bureau was finally put together. The piece is simply too beautiful NOT TO share widely, however in keeping to the purpose of this project, only five pictures were selected by Noriko and shared,  the rest of the bureau remains strictly … “for Noriko’s eye’s only”.  

If you are interested in creating a one-of –a-kind V series lacquerware art for yourself or someone special in your life or in purchasing any of Veronica’s lacquerware creations, I’m sure she would love to hear from you.  https://www.facebook.com/blackelephantstudio/    or  https://blackelephantlacquer.com/