“Urushi Wajima,” at Gallery Fumi

The first time the London-based designer Max Lamb dabbled in urushi — a centuries-old Japanese lacquerware technique — he was undiscerning of the intricacy of the process. “Just looking at pictures in my studio in London, I couldn’t tell the difference between a piece of plastic and a piece of lacquerware,” he admits. For a project in 2010, Lamb presented a stool as part of a group show at the Japanese Embassy in London that was designed in his studio then shipped to Japan to undergo the urushi technique. Now, he returns to the craft with “Urushi Wajima,” a forensically executed, heartfelt showcase of the many skilled pairs of hands — 23 to be precise — involved in the making of the cabinets, stools, tables, benches and Wajima-nuri bowls of Lamb’s design. “It’s a celebration of the city of Wajima and its community of craftspeople,” he says of the show, which also spotlights the makers’ own work. “From the timber growers to the wood splitters to the top coaters and polishers.”

It’s an unusually hands-off approach for Lamb, who spent many weeks and months over the course of six years in Wajima — a fishing port in northeastern Japan known for its morning market — immersed in the urushi community. “I love its pureness,” he says of the material. “It’s essentially created using sap from a tree so it’s entirely renewable since it can be grown and harvested.” Unlike plastic, which fades over time, urushi hardens and develops a deeper, darker and richer patina. “It creates such a juicy and luscious surface finish,” Lamb says. “The sheer number of processes involved in the making of urushi means you end up with the glossiest thing on the planet.”