At last night's opening of the Japan Brand pop-up shop at New York's Felissimo Design House, dubbed The Wish List, patrons were encouraged to leave their holiday hopes and dreams on a Wish Wall. While most tended toward the parental ("Baby") and romantic ("That I get married to a wonderful man"), a few requests were strictly materialistic ("Prada boots!"). The latter were probably a little closer to their goal, as the shop will be selling various artisanal products from 27 regions of Japan (handbags made of sustainable Yanase cedar, modern furniture from the Shizuoka prefecture, Saijo Sake) for the next month.

Equally exotic were the painstakingly detailed chess pieces designed by Alexander Gelman. Before a dinner at Nobu 57 to celebrate his work, the New York-based commercial artist described his process. After visting the Yamanaka village in the spring of 2008 he enlisted groups of local artisans to apply their centuries old, 12-step lacquer technique, known as Urushi, to a series of hand-carved chess sets (ranging in price from $10,000 to $55,000), each of which take upwards of six months to dry, are polished with charcoal, and incorporate gold dust, silver plating, platinum leaf, and washi paper finishes. "I like the military component of chess, it represents battle," says Gelman, who was inspired by ancient Japanese Samurai armies when designing his pieces. There's also a bit of a cultural exchange going on: Urushi (and Kutaniyaki, a porcelain process from the Kutani village that was used on other sets) aren't seen much outside of Japan, while chess takes a back burner position to shogi and go inside the country. The inspiration to lacquer a carbon fiber Orbea time trial bike was much simpler. "I wanted to build a black bike," he says of the stunning $18,000 steed, which he actually laid down once while testing it out in Tokyo. "I didn't scratch it, but the saddle is ripped a little bit."


Japand Brand: The Wish List is on view through December 24. Felissimo Design House is located at 10 West 56th Street, New York.