Interviews

Osaka Suzuki: 300 Years of Osaka Tinware

We visited Osaka Suzuki, the company that carries on nearly all of Osaka's 300-year-old tinware tradition, and found a workshop full of young craftsmen.

TADAFUSA: Blacksmith Knives from Sanjo, Niigata

We visited TADAFUSA in Sanjo, Niigata, to learn how a struggling blacksmith workshop reinvented itself with three essential knives, and helped open up its whole craft town.

BANSHU HAMONO: Ono's Scissors and the Story of "101"

We visited Ono, Hyogo, home of Banshu Hamono scissors, to learn how a centuries-old blade-making town is fighting to pass on its skills, one percent at a time.

syouryu: Suzugami, Tin Shaped by a Bell-Maker's Hammer

syouryu, from a Takaoka workshop that has made Buddhist temple bells since 1909, uses the hammering skills of its bell craftsmen to create suzugami, bendable sheets of tin.

clife: Brass and Leather from an Osaka Metalworks

We visited Unai Kinzoku Kogyo in Osaka, the metalworking company behind clife, to learn how its brass and pit-tanned leather accessories are designed and made in-house.

Momentum Factory Orii: The Art of Coloring Copper in Takaoka

Momentum Factory Orii in Takaoka, Toyama, spent years developing new ways to color copper, turning a specialist finishing workshop into a maker of vivid interior pieces.

Nousaku: Four Centuries of Casting, Reimagined in Takaoka

We visited Nousaku in Takaoka, Toyama, a foundry founded in 1916 that turns more than 400 years of local casting tradition into modern tin and brass pieces for everyday life.