This was a special promotional item for NTT (Nippon Telegraph & Telephone) in Japan.
It was a gift from the Mutoh family in Nagoya while I was living there. For little over a year, I had an art studio in the center of the city near downtown in the Sakae area. I had a contract with World Impex Nagoya, an art dealer that sponsored my studio... so for a year I would fly back and forth from Los Angeles to Nagoya to produce a limited edition of 50 paper sculptures times 3 designs... or 150 sculptures total. Mutoh Kunihiro, from World Impex was assigned to be my "babysitter" while I was in Nagoya. Since then we've been good friends. What a great experience... except on 9/11/2001 when the World Trade Centers were attacked. I was in Nagoya, working late... I decided to channel surf... not much choice of English speaking stations... it was either the Discovery Channel or CNN... clicked onto CNN and saw the World Trade Center with smoke coming out of it. I thought it was a clip from a movie that CNN was reporting on... noting the confusion in the reporter's voice, I kept watching... then 10 minutes later, BOOM! The second airliner hit! I immediately made a call to my art rep in New York and actually got through to her, but got her answering machine... tried again, but by then all phone lines into New York were jammed....