TELL ME A STORY
Of a young man who moved halfway across the world to Japan, a place he will never fit in but feels at home. An engineer/research scientist who became disillusioned with big business and the “ever more” which drives our society.
A man who has a deep appreciation for craftsmanship and design as well as the connection between the creator and user which we have lost. A man who believes that we pigeonhole ourselves into “designer”, “engineer”, “laborer”, “salesman”.
A man who believes creation should be a continuous fluid process from concept, design, tool creation, producing and to final product out to the end user. One who believes that we should find a way to create what we envision, not what our tools allow us to.
A man who wanted to create a space where his people, his family, and customers can enjoy their work, make it part of their lives.
So he set out to create something, something that brings the craftsman closer to the user, old school. So much of our world is made piecework, the way it is done in Japan, China, all over the world. In order to increase efficiency, we dumb down our work and our products, forcing people to perform the same task over and over, faster and faster so we can buy more and more of less. Instead he created a space where his people could create products from start to finish, where they could leave a bit of themselves in the work they do.
He was joined by a small band of craftspeople – an artist, an optician, die makers, a silversmith, a tailor, a designer, a florist all who work to create something brilliant in their lives and the lives of those who touch their products.
So a small workshop was born, one of only a few in Japan that can produce an acetate frame from start to finish in house, and one of only two which can do titanium work as well, smaller, however, by an order of magnitude. This small band of creators work/play daily to bring a bit of brilliance into their lives and into the lives of those who use what they make.
