Bril’s Coniferous Clock is filled with leaves that take a year to die
Japanese design collective Bril has filled a circular cedar frame with leaves that gradually fade from green to brown over the course of a year to create an annual clock without using hands or numbers (+ slideshow).
![Coniferous Clock by Bril](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Coniferous_Clock_by_Bril_dezeen_468_2.jpg)
The Coniferous Clock references traditional sugidama, also known as asakebayashi: boughs of fresh cedar branches tied together, clipped into a sphere and hung up when sake – Japanese rice wine – was pressed following the rice harvest.
When the cedar leaves had dried and the sugidama had turned completely brown, it was a signal that the sake was ready to drink.
![Coniferous Clock by Bril](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Coniferous_Clock_by_Bril_dezeen_468_4.jpg)
In a bid to create a product that tells the story of a specific tree and is made entirely of its materials, Bril has used the same concept to create a clock from coniferous leaves that brown slowly over 365 days.
![Coniferous Clock by Bril](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Coniferous_Clock_by_Bril_dezeen_468_3.jpg)
"We could feel the seasons in our homes as if we were in forests. The bundle of sharp leaves create a fine-pixel picture that makes the gradation from green to brown more exquisite," Bril co-founder Fumiaki Goto told Dezeen.
![Coniferous Clock by Bril](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Coniferous_Clock_by_Bril_dezeen_468_1.jpg)
In the absence of hands or numbers, a swinging pendulum gives the timepiece a more clock-like appearance.
![Coniferous Clock by Bril](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Coniferous_Clock_by_Bril_dezeen_468_6.jpg)
The frame is lathed by local craftsmen who usually work with Japanese lacquerware. The leaves are attached by hooking them over small nails inside the frame.
![Coniferous Clock by Bril](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Coniferous_Clock_by_Bril_dezeen_468_10.jpg)
At the end of the year, new leaves can be placed into the frame, mirroring the annual sugidama-making ritual.
Bril is a design collective founded by Tatsuro Kuroda, Jo Nakamura and Fumiaki Goto after they graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2011.
![Coniferous Clock by Bril](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2014/09/Coniferous_Clock_by_Bril_dezeen_468_12.jpg)
Previous projects by Bril include Rammed Earthenware plates made of tightly-packed soil and the Ceramic Lab set of containers made using a single mould.