“The responses are interesting. Either they get it right away and they think it’s the most amazing thing they’ve ever heard of, or they think it’s just completely absurd and a waste of time.” Â This is what Bruce Gardner says about hikaru dorodango, a Japanese art form of forming mud into perfectly-shaped shiny spheres, then dried and polished to shine. Gardner immediately took a liking to the curious craft, persistently fashioning dirt into balls for about a month for practice and eventually experimenting with different types of soil to create patterns and textures. The finished products are extremely fragile, but the maker benefits more from the meditative and soothing process of its creation. “I’m struck by how these objects, created from such humble material, are nearly the perfect expression of process refinement,” says Gardner. Read more about hikaru dorodango on his website, and watch the short film below.
H/T: thisiscolossal