The first interviews featured on Wakapedia were with Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari; so I decided to have the opening ceremony of Wakapedia to be a make-it-yourself sushi party with the folks at Toilet Paper. The people there are fun and interesting, and I had no doubt that bringing those guys together with the Wakapedia team (not BJ though…) and making sushi would lead to interesting things. I also thought we could do it as Casa Sara Waka!)

So, without further ado, I headed down to the Toilet Paper Factory (a.k.a. their offices) and invited them one by one.

Seba: Really? There’s a Wakapedia Launch Party at SaraWaka’s house?? I’m in.

SaraWaka: Yes. Because you are always so good to us! I thought we could all make sushi together?

Seba: DIY sushi?? I’m not sure I understand, but I’ll bring some hachimaki along!
[Readers: in SaraWaka’s native tongue of Japanese, maki means to wrap: DIY sushi is maki-sushi lit: wrap-it-yourself sushi. Here, Seba has heard maki and made a mental leap to hachimaki, which is the traditional head band (or wrap) warn by Japanese warriors and festival-goers. As with all cross-language puns, the second it needs to be explained, is the second the humour is lost.]

SaraWaka: Hachimaki?? I’m not sure I understand, but it’s 8 o’clock tonight at my place.

Italians are famous for their loose time-keeping, I thought as I wondered who would turn up. Then the doorbell rang and the first guests had arrived: Seba and Maurizio.

Maurizio: What? No-one else is here…. shall we go and come back?

SaraWaka: No, no, no, they’ll be here, they’ll be here.

Seba: Maurizio, lend me a hand, would you? I’ve got all these hachimakis.

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Photo by wakapedia

[So that’s what he was talking about: he had all these head-bands, made of paper and fixed with a stapler. That’s sooo Seba. SaraMama and SaraPapa were quite moved though.]

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Photo by wakapedia

We had purchased some tuna, salmon, squid and octopus, and laid all the ingredients out on the ornate Japanese trays. By the way, Japanese readers: in Italy you’ll find the toro cut of tuna is the cheaper one in Italy, different to Japan…)

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Photo by wakapedia

And just when all the set-up for the sushi-DIYing was complete, in rocked the Toilet Paper crew and Team Wakapedia.Pierre, a gentleman always, had brought three tablecloths from the Toilet Paper Seletti collaborations.

So let’s see what happened!

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Photo by wakapedia

Team Wakapedia deciding that it’s more fun to use seaweed than playing cards when making castles…

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Photo by wakapedia

On the left we have Jinko: typical of Toilet Paper’s online producer, he’s reading SaraWaka’s instructions as he makes the sushi. The middle photo is of Marta, bravely making sushi whilst using the chopsticks as a knife and fork. On the right is noisy old Albert making sushi inspired by the Sicilian sweet Cannoli.

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Photo by wakapedia

Matteo here showing no respect for the effort it took to make such a pretty little sushi roll by stuffing it down in one go. Albert there in the background looking away in disgust.

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Photo by wakapedia

Maurizio struggled with all sushi except for the long cigar style. He should take some lessons from the talented Giulia next to him.

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Photo by wakapedia

Seba and Pierre put their hearts and souls into the sushi. Seba, on the left, made a goldfish inspired roll, complete with a flick of a tail. Pierre, on the right, made what is known as a Princess Roll or Princess Maki. Both deserve massive respect for their efforts.

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Photo by wakapedia

Team Wakapedia certainly represented themselves well too. These are new creations called the Rock-On-Roll Finger Maki and the Death-by-Chopstick Maki.

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Photo by wakapedia

After dinner, more of SaraWaka’s friends turned up. It was an incredible DIY Sushi party, stuffed with  a wonderful mix of raw fish and creativity. Thanks to the Toilet Paper people! Wakapedia Banzai!

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Photo by wakapedia

Something I noticed when doing the final clear-up! The glasses and wine bottle we used for the party matched the design of the Toilet Paper tablecloth perfectly…a bit Daniel Spoerri???

Description & Interview: Sara Waka

Edited by: BJFox