I discovered Hajime Design when I was right at the end of writing Illuminate. Two friends Stephen Green and Yu Ito set up a studio together in Tokyo where they create many beautiful products, amongst which are these fantastic lights made out of extruded porcelain slip.
 |
| (image by Hajime Design) |
I asked them if they would like to have an image in the book and after a few emails back and forth last year Stephen said 'If you're ever in Tokyo do come and say hi'. I thought that would be cool and was very happy to get in touch when I actually made it to Japan!
We met up at a subway station two stops from Shinjuku and all walked in the rain through a quiet residential area to their studio. What a great space! It used to be a swimming pool. They have been there about a year and have worked very hard to convert it into the perfect workshop space for all their emerging projects.
It was really interesting chatting to them about their work and techniques and hearing about what it's like to establish a craft business in Japan. They are doing well and are building up a customer base there but funnily enough many of their customers are outside of the country. Good old Etsy working hard there!
Stephen has been developing some sweet stem vases, perfect for posting around the world. They gave us both one to take home which was a treat. It's sitting right here on my coffee table with some Sweet William in it looking gorgeous!
Yu has been working on some lasercut flat packed vases too. Great shapes. Look how they fit together!
 |
| (image by Hajime Design) |
I always love visiting studio spaces and getting an insight into someones creative practice. It was especially great to meet these guys as they are going to be in the book. Thanks Stephen and Yu for a lovely afternoon. It was great to meet you!
No comments:
Post a Comment