Rediscovering Nostalgia: between past and present is inspired by a map of the Taiwan Sugar Railways which was originally issued in 1927.

We re-interpreted the map and transformed it into a graphic image using sugar ink and an old Japanese technique called “Aburidashi” which is literally translated as “roast and emerge”.  Aburidashi is a drawing technique with a special ink that becomes visible only through a heating process. While it is traditionally done by hand, we used digital fabrication to give high precision to the drawing process. 

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The map is printed on paper using a CNC plotter loaded with a pen filled with sugar ink. When freshly printed, the image is almost invisible. Then the ink turns into a sepia color when the sugar is caramelized in an oven. The finished map has a sweet-bitter fragrance that evokes a nostalgic feeling