‘A happy gift sweet for both the presenter and the host’
This is the theme of design for ‘Abekawa-mochi’. Though I do not like the words ‘easy, convenient’, I have always had a question how many people would bother to place gift sweets on desert plates. So, if we could sell a gift sweet already set in a desert plate, people might enjoy making tea for it. And, let’s say, they enjoy them together, thinking of the presenter, having a spiritually rich time for a while. I designed ‘Abekawa-mochi’ based on this assumption.
An Abekawa-mochi sweet is set in a sustainable box made of paulownia wood. When you open the lid, the ready-to-eat sweet will appear. One box is a serving for one person, with a large black Kuromoji (Japanese stick for sweets) and a golden paper (historically involved with Abekawa-mochi) under the sweet. You will sprinkle Kinako Soya powder and Wasambon natural sugar on it just before eating.
While I was designing it, I especially concerned about the portion and the size balance between the sweet and the box. The preferable portion should be a bit of less than’enough’. The size of the box must have enough room to eat the sweet, as well as it should be comfortable.
As I am not a professional pastry chef, I did not design the taste itself. However, I had proposed not to use sugar in the Mochi dough and use Wasambon sugar instead of ordinal white sugar. Those ideas were approved, and more importantly, the pastry company has changed their way of thinking from ‘improving the sell by date’ to ‘making delicious sweets even if they get spoiled rapidly’. This was the revolutionary decision as most of gift sweets Abekawa-mochi are mass- produced, and I am very pleased about it as a designer.
This project was planned as a part of ‘Rendezvous Project’ organized by Wacoal Art Centre.
Matsukaya-Do Abekawa-mochi (serving one person) 1000 yen. Sales on order.
For more information: tel 054-252-0095
　
translator Shoko Yamasho