Japanese charcoal contemporary jewelry.
One French, one Japanese, both interior designers, they founded the brand Charcoal Eskimeït® in 2004. They create contemporary jewelry and decorative objects using the traditional art of binchotan, the Japanese wood charcoal. We found a new function for this exceptional material, giving it a new life after centuries of unchanging traditional use in Japan.
The brand Charcoal Eskimeït® started when they first encountered Binchotan, the Japanese wood coal whose beauty fascinated us, along with its incredible hardness and special properties. In 2004, they went to meet the coal makers in the Kishu region in Japan and learn about an ancestral skill.
Binchotan is the result of the complex two-week long firing of an extremely dense wood in a clay oven, occasionally reaching a temperature of 1300°C; this process transforms the wood into an incredibly hard water resistant mineral. Originally developed as a most efficient fuel reserved for the imperial family, it is used today mostly as an air and water filter, and to absorb odours, humidity, and negative ions. Back in France, they set out to experiment with this material and find ways we could work with it, cut it, polish it and finally turn it into a work of art.
In Japan, Binchotan is never used to create work of art. We had to develop new skills to work, cut, sculpt, polish, and mount it, to display it as one would a precious stone. We have learned to work withit and use our craftsmanship to turn each individual piece into an equally unique piece of jewelry.
