🇯🇵Japanese Inspired Partition for Open-concept House

Open-concept homes are fantastic, however, zoning of space is necessary for some order and privacy. The bedroom was in the mezzanine, and I wanted to build a partition that did not totally cut off the individual space but allow continuity throughout. 

The height of the space is 3.70m and the width is 3m. The idea was to use approachable materials and craft processes like natural dye and knitting. Japanese Shoji doors and Norem curtains were my inspiration for the two pieces partition.

In this case, the model is made of wood, polystyrene, and cotton fabric. I will explain step by step how I made it. 

Let's start! 

• 2m of fabric. I used raw cotton  
• Polystyrene sheet (3mm x 2m x 1m) 
• 50 wooden sticks ( 1cm x 1m)  
• Hemp cord 1mm 
• Screws 10x1,5

Tools 

• Ruler. 
• Pencil. 
• Jeweler saw. 
• Sponge sandpaper (fine and coarse). 
• Drill and bit Ø4.5 mm. 

I wanted something that did not look bulky or rigid, allowing light to pass through and hide the shelves. My inspiration was most Japanese Shoji doors that consist of a wooden frame backed by washi paper for the left side panel and Noren curtains as a lightweight partition to divide the space on the right side. 

I started making an inspiration board and some sketches using Figma (file here). I choose something simple and easy to build. The design provides an area to keep air circulating and a structure to hide the shelves and a two parts curtain. 

The panel consist of an inner grid of pine strings (1m x 10 mm ) which are connected to each other by hemp cord. The essential assembly steps of the panel can be broken down as follows: 

Preparation of the pine sticks

The pine sticks are 3 cm apart, so we will use 50. The first step will be to cut them with a jeweler's saw. The saw blade is 0.03mm. 

Preparation of the Polystyrene sheet 

Measure the desired length, mark and cut. With paper scissors the material cuts easily. Then draw points at 3cm, then with a drill and a bit make 50 holes of 0.5cm in two lines along the panel 

Assembly and detailing 

Place the sheet in a standing position and start tying each stick with hemp in the two aligned holes, the tying can be done 1 to 1 or tightening the thread to the next and so on. It is important that the sticks do not move out of position when lifting the panel. 

Installation 

The first thing I did was clean the shelves because it had a lot of dust, after this I held the panel in the proper accumulated position and fixed the plastic to the wooden shelves using screws. I really liked how it allows the light to spread through it. 

I love Noren curtains for the bedroom entrance because I wanted to separate the space in two parts and gently block people’s line of sight when visitors came. Something natural cloth that I could dye on my own and allow ventilation in the room. The essential steps for the curtains are: 

Measure & sew 

I used raw cotton for mine, to measure the dimensions, divide the width by half. Add 3cm of an inch to each side. Add 6cm on top and 4cm on bottom. Cut out these two measurements from your fabric. Put the fabric together, to verify and Sew the seam down along the edge. This will encase the raw edge of the fabric in the seam, making them look nice and neat!

Repeat this process on the outer edges of the curtain. Fold 3cm, iron, fold 3cm, iron, pin, sew. Sew along the line. 

Dye 

The stage of the process I was most excited about was the dying part, I used natural pigments but I did not get the results I was expecting so I decided to use biodegradable textile dying. It was the part that resulted the most challenging. 

I used brown pigment and 500ml of iron water (recipe here) in 6lt of water. I boiled the mix and then washed the fabric. 

Even I wanted a softer color, I’m pretty happy with the results 

Installation 

After ironing the curtains, the installation was so easy, I just used a couple of screws on the metal tube

The room seems cozier, it is kept cleaner, and there is a greater sense of privacy without being isolated from the other space.