Our Makers

Every piece in our shop comes from a maker we have visited in person. Meet the workshops and craftspeople across Japan who put their skill and care into each item, and discover the stories behind what they make.

Yokkaichi, Mie

4th-market

A Banko ware brand founded in 2005 in Yokkaichi, Mie, by local kilns. Making the most of Banko ware's exceptional heat resistance, it designs simple, stylish...

Kahoku, Yamagata

ABE HOME SHOES

The factory brand of Abe Sangyo, a slipper maker of over 100 years in Kahoku, Yamagata, Japan's top slipper-producing town. Its babouches, slippers and home shoes...

Kiryu, Gunma

Asakura Senpu

A dyeing company in Kiryu, Gunma, a city with a long textile history. Through its brand NAGARE, it reinvents the traditional furoshiki wrapping cloth with its...

Ono, Hyogo

BANSHU HAMONO

The shared brand of the blade makers of Ono, Hyogo, a town known for over 230 years for its scissors and sickles. Its 101 Series adds...

Kumamoto

Beret is flamingo

The brand of Yoshida, Japan's leading beret maker, founded in 1967. At its factory in the Aso region of Kumamoto, it handles every step from knitting...

Nagata, Kobe

buntA

The rubber sandal brand of Fuji Koatsu Products, which has made shoe soles and insoles in Nagata, Kobe, since 1948. Its Good Design Award-winning waraji sandal...

Higashinari, Osaka

clife

The in-house brand of Unai Kinzoku Kogyo, a metalworking company in Osaka. Combining its own brass fittings with slow, pit-tanned leather, it designs and makes simple,...

Sakurai, Nara

cobcob

The brand of Yumesaka, a forestry family workshop in Sakurai, Nara. From rare, fragrant burls of Yoshino cedar that are usually left in the forest, forester...

Tsubame-Sanjo, Niigata

Coffee Kogu

A brand of coffee tools made in Tsubame-Sanjo, Niigata, Japan's center of stainless steel craftsmanship. Its drip pots, with ultra-fine spouts and carefully angled handles, give...

Kyoto

/fan/fun

A folding fan brand launched in 2017 by Minoya Senpo, a Kyoto fan maker founded in 1894 that has long made fans for the tea ceremony....

Sakai, Osaka

hirali

A textile brand from Takeno Senko, a tenugui maker founded in 1961 in Sakai, Osaka. Using rare roller-printing techniques refined by its craftsmen, it makes reversible...

Sumida, Tokyo

Hirota Glass

A Tokyo glassmaker founded in 1899, known for keeping traditional Japanese glass techniques alive. Its sake glasses, designed with sake professionals, are shaped to bring out...

Saga

HIZEN5

A casual brand launched by kilns from five pottery towns in Saga, once the province of Hizen: Karatsu, Imari, Takeo, Ureshino and Arita. Its ceramic stationery,...

Osaka

JIKAN STYLE

JIKAN STYLE creates tenugui cloths dyed by hand using chusen, a traditional Japanese technique that gives each piece soft gradations and depth. Seasonal motifs, lucky charms...

Tokoname, Aichi

JINSUI

A Tokoname teapot maker whose roots go back to a kiln founded around 1800 in Tokoname, Aichi, Japan's top teapot town. Its TOKI teapots, with built-in...

Japan

kaico

A Japanese enamelware brand with gentle, timeless forms and thoughtful details, such as cool-to-the-touch maple handles. Made with care by skilled craftspeople, its pots and pans...

Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima

Kamezaki Senko

A dye works founded in 1869 in the port town of Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima. Specializing in shirushi-zome resist dyeing, it hand-dyes fishing flags and Boys' Day banners,...

Komono, Mie

Kamoshika Doguten

A regional brand from Yamaguchi Toki, a Banko ware maker in Komono, Mie. Working with partner kilns across the region, it makes simple, highly functional clay...

Kiryu, Gunma

Kasamori

An embroidery company founded in 1877 in Kiryu, Gunma, a historic textile town. Its brand 000 (Triple O) makes feather-light necklaces and glasses cords from thread...

Higashikagawa, Kagawa

KURODA

A leather glove maker founded over 40 years ago in Higashikagawa, Kagawa, the town that makes about 90% of Japan's gloves. Every hide is softened and...

Fushimi, Kyoto

Kyo Wazarashi Mensha

A gauze brand from Daito Shingu Kogyo, a Kyoto bedding maker founded in 1925. Its multi-layer gauze, bleached by the slow, chemical-free wazarashi method and sewn...

Kuramae, Tokyo

m+ (emmepiu)

A leather goods brand founded in 2001 in Kuramae, Tokyo, by Mr. Murakami, a former architect who trained as a leather craftsman in Italy. Made from...

Minamitsuru, Yamanashi

Makita Shoten

A textile house founded in 1866 in Yamanashi's Gunnai weaving region. It may be the only company in Japan that dyes the yarn, weaves the jacquard...

Fukuoka

Masuda Kiribako

A paulownia woodworking workshop founded in 1929 in Fukuoka. Paulownia naturally resists moisture and insects, and the workshop uses it to make beautiful boxes and rice...

Kanzaki, Saga

Mimatsu Kogei

Mimatsu Kogei is a woodworking studio founded in 1972 in Kanzaki, Saga. Through its M.SCOOP and NENRIN lines, it crafts simple, refined wooden pieces such as...

Shizuoka

Mizutori Kogyo

Founded in 1937 in Shizuoka, Mizutori Kogyo began as a maker of wooden blocks for geta and returned to its roots to reinvent the traditional Japanese...

Yamanaka, Ishikawa

MokuNeji

A brand produced by Kotoriku and made by Taniteru Kogei, wood turners in Yamanaka, Ishikawa, Japan's leading center for lathe-turned wood. Combining traditional turning with precise,...

Takaoka, Toyama

Momentum Factory Orii

A Takaoka workshop that has long specialized in coloring Takaoka copperware. Using rolled copper sheet and dozens of original patina techniques, it creates vivid, one-of-a-kind interior...

Takaoka, Toyama

Nousaku

Founded in 1916 in Takaoka, a town with 400 years of metal casting history, Nousaku began by making Buddhist altar fittings. Today it casts tin and...

Hasami, Nagasaki

nucca (Yamashita Toen)

The brand of Yamashita Toen, a Hasami ware kiln in Nagasaki founded in 1984 that handles every step from forming to firing. nucca, named for the...

Odate, Akita

Odate Kougeisha

For over 65 years, Odate Kougeisha in Odate, Akita has crafted magewappa, traditional bentwood ware made from Akita cedar, with every step done by hand. Its...

Higashiosaka, Osaka

Onishi Seisakusho

In Higashiosaka, one of Japan's great manufacturing towns, pen maker Keizo Onishi draws on more than 65 years of experience to make every fountain pen and...

Higashisumiyoshi, Osaka

Osaka Suzuki

A tinware maker founded in 1949 in Osaka that produces nearly all of Osaka Naniwa Suzuki, a designated Traditional Craft of Japan with over 300 years...

Tokyo

+d

A Tokyo design brand that adds a little "d" (design) to everyday life, pairing the ideas of designers with the skills of Japanese makers. Its pieces,...

Takaoka, Toyama

RED&WHITE

Japan's first brand dedicated entirely to copperware, created by Oda Koudouki, a long-established copper foundry in Takaoka, Toyama, together with the precision metal pressing of Tsubame-Sanjo....

Matsuyama, Ehime

Reela

The room shoe brand of Yamato, a sandal maker in Matsuyama, Ehime, with more than 60 years of history. Made from Japanese leather and shaped on...

Senshu, Osaka

SHINTO TOWEL

The brand of Shinto Towel, founded in 1907 in Senshu, Osaka, the birthplace of Japanese towel making. Using the region's traditional post-weave bleaching and vintage shuttle...

Sabae, Fukui

Shitsurindo (RIN&CO.)

An Echizen lacquerware maker in Sabae, Fukui, Japan's oldest lacquer region. Led by its eighth-generation head and a growing team of young craftspeople, it makes beautiful,...

Kanazawa, Ishikawa

soil

A brand born from Isurugi, a Kanazawa plastering company with over 200 years of history, and Tokyo design firm ASHCONCEPT. It turns diatomaceous earth, a classic...

Odawara, Kanagawa

Sonobe Sangyo

A woodworking company founded in 1949 in Odawara, Kanagawa, a town with some 1,200 years of woodcraft history. Handling everything from drying the timber to the...

Moriyama, Shiga

sufuto

The brand of Kiyohara Orimono, a Nishijin weaving house that has practiced tsuzure tapestry weaving since the Muromachi period. sufuto brings this strong, finely detailed silk...

Kyushu

Sunao Lab

A tableware brand whose playful pieces, such as its mushroom-shaped vessels, are carefully carved and finished by artisans in Kyushu, bringing a little wonder to everyday...

Takaoka, Toyama

syouryu

The brand of Shimatani Shoryu Kobo, a Takaoka workshop founded in 1909 that makes orin, the bowl-shaped bells used in Buddhist temples. Its hammering skills, honed...

Sanjo, Niigata

TADAFUSA

A knife maker in Sanjo, Niigata, one of Japan's great blade-making towns, founded in 1948. Its Hocho Kobo Tadafusa line offers "three essential knives, then one...

Kyoto

Takaokaya

A Kyoto cushion and futon maker founded in 1919. Drawing on generations of futon-making skill, it creates "tools for relaxing," such as the round, beanbag-shaped Ojami...

Kyoto

Take Kobo Kisetsu

A bamboo studio in Kyoto founded in 2011 by craftsman Mr. Hosokawa, who left an office career at 31 to learn bamboo craft. Using only Kyoto-grown...

Wajima, Ishikawa

Wajima Kirimoto

A workshop in Wajima, Ishikawa, that has crafted wooden bases for Wajima lacquerware since the early Showa era. Under its seventh-generation head, it now makes lacquerware...