Poster printed using CHIJIMI technique (Theme: Fujin-Raijin: Wind God and Thunder God) (1998)

Client: Shinei Process Co., Ltd.

This was a project with the purpose of introducing a brand new silkscreen printing technique called "CHIJIMI"* (a technique to create creases on the surface) at Japan's first trade show for specialized printing. In this two-phase project, Takahashi was commissioned to create a poster using the CHIJIMI technique for Phase 1. (In Phase 2, the following year, Takahashi designed another poster, in a gold-fish theme.) The CHIJIMI technique was invented by the members of a printing association in collaboration with Takahashi.

After completing the poster, Takahashi and her co-inventors continued to explore the potential of silkscreen printing. As a result, the expertise gained through creating this poster became a springboard for developing more applications of the CHIJIMI technique. It is now widely used in the industry as a method for printing patterns, as a base material, and as a processing method.

The design technique for printing special patterns and images was an innovative concept at that time. It was developed with a forward-looking approach, taking into account how these special printing methods could be applied to other creative works. The way Takahashi incorporated CHIJIMI printing in her poster was a guiding example.

In the poster, the gods of wind and thunder are rendered as animation-like characters, whereas the clouds are printed using the CHIJIMI technique. (In another proposal, Takahashi had depicted these gods as animation-like robots.)

*CHIJIMI is a silkscreen printing technique in which fine "creases" are created by hardening special translucent ink printed on the base material. Before the creation of this poster, it was an unnamed technique for printing raised characters and images. The creases were made in fewer steps, and the technique as a whole was still in a stage of development. During her school years, Takahashi had opportunities to meet people from a silkscreen printing association. CHIJIMI was one of the techniques she developed in cooperation with these professionals at that time. The Fujin-Raijin poster was created for the first trade show held under the banner of "special printing processes," focused on the potential of printing and processing, and served as an experimental presentation of Japanese monozukuri ("craft of making things"). Takahashi was intimately involved in this ambitious project, made possible by collaboration with the people of the printing association.