Prototyping an Urushi Display that Changes Color Interactively by Temperature Control

Urushi is a type of natural resin paint. It has been traditionally used to coat wooden crafts to protect them from degradation. A craft coated with urushi, called urushi-ware, has been used for centuries for daily necessities and has aspects of a work of art because it has a beautiful gloss and smooth feel on the surface. The goal of our study is to develop a set of techniques that allow designers to fabricate an urushi-ware with true interactivity, which can present visual information to provide an urushi-ware with both inputs and outputs while maintaining a beautiful gloss and a smooth feel on the surface. In this study, to achieve the above goal, we developed a technique for presenting visual information on urushi-ware. We create thermochromic colored urushi by mixing thermochromic pigments with a “Clear Urushi”. We conducted a pilot study to quantitatively evaluate the color change of thermochromic colored urushi with temperature. The result suggests that people could perceive a color change in thermochromic colored urushi.