Gallery: A New Kind of Buddhist Altar for a Changing Japan

  • Image may contain Wood Building Architecture Church Altar and Lighting
    Product Design Center
    01

    keita-suzuki-shinobu-buddhist-altar-product-design-center-designboom-01

    This micro-sized Buddhist prayer altar is designed for today's micro-sized Japanese apartments.
  • Image may contain Home Decor Screen Electronics Monitor Display Furniture and Lcd Screen
    Product Design Center
    02

    keita-suzuki-shinobu-buddhist-altar-product-design-center-designboom-02

    As younger generations move to cities, traditional Buddhist mourning rituals are falling out of favor.
  • Image may contain Furniture and Box
    Product Design Center
    03

    keita-suzuki-shinobu-buddhist-altar-product-design-center-designboom-03

    Japanese designer Keita Suzuki, of Product Design Center, wants to make it possible for city-dwellers to keep those traditions, so he rolled Shinobu, a line of shoe box-sized altars.
  • Image may contain Lamp Lampshade and Table Lamp
    Product Design Center
    04

    keita-suzuki-shinobu-buddhist-altar-product-design-center-designboom-05

    Features like bamboo blinds, instead of doors, make the altars space conscious additions.
  • Likewise the tools—incense candles the singing bowl used during chanting—are minimalist and come in neutral metals and...
    Product Design Center
    05

    keita-suzuki-shinobu-buddhist-altar-product-design-center-designboom-06

    Likewise, the tools—incense, candles, the singing bowl used during chanting—are minimalist, and come in neutral metals and have basic cylindrical shapes.
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