We have developed a dehydrated form of funori…
In 2012, we introduced a funori product in a 3 litre “bag in a box” liquid format. Over the next few years, the product was successfully used in a number of large architectural conservation projects in North America. However, as a product requiring refrigeration, liquid funori had a short shelf life and high shipping costs. To address these issues, we have developed TRI-Funori™. This dehydrated format, dramatically reduces cost, extends shelf life and guarantees consistency to conservators around the world.
TRI-Funori is packaged in a Faraday Shield re-sealable vacuum bag. Unopened shelf life can be measured in years.
Most importantly, TRI-Funori™ maintains the same properties and performance characteristics that made the liquid product so successful.
Product Testing, Documentation and Quality Control
Climate change and oceanic warming of the Sea of Japan are said to be having a negative effect on both the quality and quantity of the funori harvest. Each year, our buyer visits funori harvesters in Japan and selects only the strongest starch-bearing plant material available, verifying its characteristics by field testing.
Some modern production processes in Japan include bleaching with hydrogen peroxide and other harsh chemicals. We see no reason to risk contamination with those variations from traditional practice. In order to control the quality of our product, we have opted for the importation of utterly untreated raw material – straight from the sea.
TRI-Funori™ is produced once a year in a single batch from the entirety of the raw material available to us. This batch or “vintage” is then subjected to a battery of ASTM tests (opacity, viscosity, peel and pull adhesion, abrasion resistance) by an independent ISO certified laboratory. The test results for each vintage of TRI-Funori™ are published and guaranteed to the purchaser.
We are concerned about the long term effects of climate change on the available supply of the seaweed raw material.
There is a finite supply of each vintage. Each vintage is identified by the year of its production. Tri-Funori 2016 for instance is the full available supply of TRI-Funori produced from that year’s harvest.