Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1215372
24 letter editor JONATHAN ZIZZO I f you've been lucky enough to have dinner at Tei-An, Teiichi Sakurai's legendary Japanese restaurant in the Arts District, you've probably marveled over the sashimi course. It's one of the most beautiful I've ever seen, a roughly shaped earthenware bowl holding an arrangement of raw fish so fresh it glints and sparkles like jewels. Each bite, unadorned, is breathtakingly complex and complete. Maybe, like me, you've sat there and wondered how it's possible that, with a few deft cuts, Sakurai could achieve such a feat. The answer, in my story on page 106, is that there is much more than knife skills involved. Sakurai is one of the few makers of edomae sushi in Dallas, a technique that originated in 19th-century Tokyo and involves subtly curing, marinating, and aging the fish — preparations that might take weeks to achieve what appears to be the most perfect expression of pure flavor: a simple slice of fish, with hundreds of years of history, culture, and skill behind it. It made me think about complexity hidden within the most radically simple and sure-handed designs, something Rebecca Sherman explores in her profile of Andrew Kudless, the architecture and design professor — though I want to call him an auteur, given the scope and smooth seductiveness of his work — who has just joined the Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design at the University of Houston. In a new lab dedicated to advanced media and technology, Kudless is rethinking how we build our homes and cities (page 88) using digital fabrication and 3D printing. That technological fluency is concealed within his boldly modern designs, be it a pavilion in Confluence Park in San Antonio or a gravity-defying shelf for Louis Vuitton's Objets Nomades collection. So perhaps it shouldn't have been surprising to learn that Kudless' work is rooted in an epiphany that he had years ago, studying in Japan: Artisans there must first spend a year learning how to make their tools before they can begin practicing their craft. Michalene Busico Dallas Editor in Chief michalene@papercitymag.com