Connecting the Breath of Light: The Present and Future of RAYCREA™

“When light enters, areas that were once transparent become opaque, giving them expression.”—This was the impression upon encountering RAYCREA. By visualizing light and connecting different materials, something like a breath of light that resonates between them was created.
RAYCREA is a transparent film that, when combined with reflective materials such as mirrors or glass, expands the possibilities of spatial design and lighting expression. It is a “light material” that enables new forms of creative exploration.
We spoke with Yutaka Endo, who created an installation using RAYCREA in the glass-walled Japanese-style room on the second floor of NITTODO KYOTO COFFEE (hereafter referred to as NITTODO), about the unique appeal of RAYCREA as a material, his creative techniques, and his vision for the future.

The Key Is “Not Overdoing It”: How to Make the Most of RAYCREA

NITTODO is located close to Yasaka Shrine and Kiyomizu Temple, and from the second-floor window, visitors can enjoy a view of Yasaka Pagoda (Hōkan-ji Temple). At the center of the spacious area stands the glass Japanese-style room called “Bian.”

Inside Bian, diverse materials such as iron, wood, mirrors, paper, acrylic, and glass were arranged as plates of varying widths, heights, and thicknesses, harmonizing like a kind of colony. RAYCREA was applied to these plates, used as a medium to connect the different materials.
In this installation, the key was to avoid creating too many rules and to refrain from overdesigning. Because the room is entirely glass-walled, the outside scenery reflects, making it difficult to control light and space as intended. Instead of resisting it, the approach was to embrace it—exploring how to coexist and how far the design could align itself with its natural rhythm.

Rather than presenting RAYCREA as a finished product, the focus was on how to showcase it as a material. “If it can exist in an intermediate position, it could inspire ideas—not only for tourists, but also for designers and architecture lovers who stumble upon it. That’s the concept behind this installation. Ideally, I’d like it to be something like “a dish that tastes great with just salt,” he said.

Material Expressions × The Beauty of Serendipity

This space offers a different impression depending on the time of day and the viewer’s position. The structure of glass walls, the reflected scenery outside, and the light streaming in from the skylight—all these elements serve as borrowed scenery, contributing to the rich and varied expressions that are so captivating.
The floor panels are made of cedar wood, bringing a sense of freshness to the space. There is also a plate framed with chestnut wood, which, in Endo’s words, could be called a “blessing in disguise” : a story born out of serendipity.

“I wanted to add just a bit of color, so I had it dyed, but the tannins reacted extremely, turning it completely black… he laughed.” Afterwards, by re-polishing the surface, the newly revealed wood grain and the color deeply stained from the dye created a vintage-like texture.

The plate installed on the west side is combined with a tall chestnut wood, featuring RAYCREA on one side and Tosa washi paper on the other. The washi used is a premium handmade paper crafted by Hamada Washi, a master of Tosa Tengujōshi (ultra-thin washi).

“That includes a sense of playfulness, but I hope that interesting effects will be created by the synergy of combining different materials” he said. Also, on the north side, a small, slightly thick glass plate is installed, which Endo smiles and says is “cute.”

Originally, glass absorbs specific wavelengths (red), making it a material that requires special design considerations when used as a light guide.

However, in this installation, “I found it fascinating how the material’s transparency became even more visible. The way the dye takes to it is also very even—it’s turned out much better than I expected,” he said. It gives off a somewhat near-futuristic impression, different from the soft light that the translucency of washi paper creates. Such harmony with diverse materials suggests the potential to expand design choices in spatial planning, interior materials, and aesthetics.

Expressing Light That Feels Natural

What is important in this exhibition is the selection and rhythm of the light itself.
He says that he is constantly exploring light sources that are compact, highly bright, and offer high color reproducibility. For this installation, he chose FCOB LEDs (short for “Flexible Chip on Board,” where LED chips are mounted directly onto the substrate)

“The way the leaves on the trees outside move is never the same — always shifting with the wind, in ways we can’t foresee. That motion is constantly repeated. I’m trying to express that kind of organic movement found in nature through light.”
In past projects such as the Lighting Dome in Ibaraki City, Osaka (Note 1) and “hex flat crystallized” at INTERSECT BY LEXUS – TOKYO (Note 2), the lighting effects were meticulously designed to leave a lasting impression even during short visits. By contrast, NITTODO offers a different kind of experience—one where visitors are invited to immerse themselves in the rhythm of light that changes over time, allowing their senses to resonate with it. The expression of the space shifts depending on the viewing angle and time of day, and can be slowly savored alongside ambient music.

Imagining the Future with Material Potential

The future vision presented by Endo in this installation is not limited to large-scale architectural applications; rather, it suggests a presence that can seamlessly blend into everyday life.
“When you think of it as an architectural material, the scale becomes grand. But I wanted it to feel like something you’d want in the corner of your own room something that could even serve the role of a hanging scroll.”

He sees a future where it could be developed into products such as interiors, saying, “It would be good to have people imagine, ‘I might want to buy something like this,’ or ‘I would want to try using it like this myself.'” Assuming that further development of light sources will also be necessary, the imagination runs wild: “If we can use RAYCREA to simulate natural light as it is, then perhaps RAYCREA will be a part of our daily lives without even realizing it, allowing us to create our own preferred light.”
Furthermore, there is a great potential for its use in art exhibitions.

“Of course, to showcase something, we need to illuminate it. But I don’t want to ostentatiously display the lighting equipment. There is a mysterious effect in light whose source cannot be identified.”
RAYCREA can control the direction of light, and by leveraging this capability, it can be expected to highlight the exhibits themselves and creates a sense of levitation, as if the exhibits were floating in space, he explained.
A new era in which we can choose light more freely might be just around the corner.

(Note 1): Lighting Dome (CASES)
(Note 2):INTERSECT BY LEXUS – TOKYO “hex flat crystallized” (CASES)