I never really understood the sushi world, I don’t like the idea of eating raw fish, so I stick to the vegetarian version, and yes I know people say that I am missing out, but it’s an acquired taste. I also never really understood why they called certain sushi recipies a fashion sandwich, they never really look that good. Until now. Welcome to the world of the real “fashion sandwich of sushi”. Developed by international ad agency I&S BBDO for the Umino Seaweed shop, 'design nori' is a series of complexly laser cut seaweed for rolling sushi.

Each set of the five designs named:

‘sakura’ (cherry blossoms)

'mizutama' ('water drops')

'asanoha' ('hemp')

'kikkou' ('turtle shell')

'kumikkou' ('tortoise shell')

are based on an element of Japanese history or symbology, meant to bring beauty, good fortune, growth, happiness, and longevity. Due to the fact that precision is required in the cutting process, the seaweed in itself is a thicker variety from the Sanriku region of Miyagi. Umino plans to use the leftover clippings to sell as a furikake topping or recompile into other sheets. The project was originally comisdsioned to inspire the sale of Nori following the Tsunami in Japan of 2011, at a time when the Director of Umino, Hiroyuki Umino noted that Japanese were eating less seaweed than in the past. ‘Design Nori’ is on exhibition through the month of May at the ’Katagami Style’ of 19th century Japanese stencil artwork, at the Mitsubishi Ichigokan museum in Tokyo and the pieces themselves are available to purchase only through the retail location in Ibaraki Prefacture and at the exhibition, currently selling for the price of 840 yen each. In the future Umino intends to produce the Nori on a larger scale and at a lower cost.

Via: LAWeekly blogs

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