History 1
① In 2007, many things were happening at the same time.
Sasaki: Could you tell us when and where you all met?
Takahashi: Ono-san, you first came to Asahikawa in 2007, right?
Ono: It all started with Akiko Hino (Studio Mokko), a craft buyer. Hino was involved in the Asahikawa Craft Modification Project and had been coming to Asahikawa since around 2005.
Takahashi: Goto Tetsunori, who worked at the Asahikawa City Crafts Center at the time, had been talking about Hino. He had heard rumors that "there's a buyer in Tokyo named Hino, who's called a one-man wholesaler and is apparently a very scary guy..." Goto went to Tokyo to meet Hino, and when he actually spoke to him, he wasn't scary at all (laughs). That led to Hino coming to Asahikawa, and he told us that perhaps what Asahikawa lacked was design. So we decided to invite a designer! Hino brought with him a large portfolio of designers, which included Ono and Daiji. The Asahikawa Craft Remodeling Project could only invite one person, and after a vote by the 20-odd participating companies, we decided to invite Ono.
Sasaki: What kind of companies were involved in the Asahikawa Craft Remodeling Project?
Takahashi: People from a variety of genres participated, including woodworking, pottery, and glass.
Ono: There were requests for Daiji to come too, so we thought, "Even though we only have the budget for one person, is there any way we can invite two people?"
Takahashi: First, we had Ono-san come, and then we made arrangements so that we could also invite Daiji-san.
Sasaki: At that time, were Ono and Daiji already close enough to call each other "O-chan" and "Rin"?
Daiji: It was already connected.
Ono: I met Daiji in 2006.
Daiji: We met at the public judging session for the Toyama Product Design Competition and quickly became good friends.
Ono: Yes. Hino-san took me to Asahikawa for the first time in August 2007. At the time, my husband and I were living in Yamagata, and he was thinking he might be participating in a D&DEPARTMENT project, so when he came to Tokyo, he would let me stay at Daiji's house.
Daiji: After the Toyama Product Design Competition, a workshop was held in conjunction with the competition, and I was there with Rin again. The products from that workshop were commercialized by Nousaku , and it was there that I met FUTAGAMI . In 2007, I visited Asahikawa for the Asahikawa Craft Modification Project and met Takahashi, and I think my work with FUTAGAMI was progressing at the same time. I remember showing Rin and Takahashi my work and saying, "I went to Toyama and did this kind of work."
Ono: I visited Asahikawa with Hino-san in August 2007, and the following month my husband was selected to participate in D&DEPARTMENT's planning as an external director. He was to start work in Tokyo in October, so we moved to Tokyo, and the opening party for D&DEPARTMENT HOKKAIDO by 3KG was held in November, where I met Makoto Sasaki and others from 3KG in Sapporo.
Daiji: What? The opening of D&DEPARTMENT's Hokkaido store is also happening at the same time!
Sasaki: So many things were happening at the same time.
Ono: It was really simultaneous. Looking back, a lot of things were happening at the same time in 2007. I think Daiji was the starting point of all those connections.
Daiji: When 3KG came out I thought something amazing had come out.
Ono: That's right, it was fun.
Daiji: There was a buzz that a production company in Sapporo had started something.
Sasaki: When we opened D&DEPARTMENT HOKKAIDO, we were all working hard, and Takahashi-san and Ono-san weren't really connected ...
Ono: At that time, Takahashi Kogei had not yet produced any products other than Kami Glass. The first NIPPON VISION exhibition was held at D&DEPARTMENT in February 2008, and Takahashi Kogei's Kami Glass was selected to represent Hokkaido.
I'd do something with them
I thought maybe I could do it.
Sasaki: What year did Kami, Cara, and Kakudo all come out?
Ono: The wide and long Kami glasses were already made in 2007, and we were involved in unveiling Kakudo and Cara at the Tokyo Gift Show in February 2008. Daiji first came to Asahikawa around October 2007, so the new products were announced four months later. After that, Daiji made the Kami mug in 2009, I think.
Takahashi: The first thing we made was the Kakudo series cutting board. It all started when Daiji brought over a model of a cutting board.
Daiji: Oh, I remember now! I made a model out of Styrofoam and took it with me (laughs).
Ono: Yes, I did. I was carrying luggage in both hands.
Takahashi: When I first came here, I had already made some prototype cutting boards, and I just dropped them off saying, "I want to make this! Please make it!!" (laughs).
Daiji: Hahaha!
Takahashi: The cutting board alone wasn't large enough to be released as a new product, so I asked him to make something to go with it, and that's how the Kakudo series was born. I think it all started with the cutting board, bagel case, and butter case. I met Ono-san earlier, so we'd been talking about the image of the Cara series over the phone and email, but in the end, both Cara and Kakudo were created in one go, starting four months ago.
Ono: It took a while to decide on the shape of Cara, and it was actually completed just before the announcement.
Takahashi: Once the image was solidified, things moved quickly.
Sasaki: Please tell us about the Asahikawa Craft renovation plan.
Daiji: Whenever Rin and I were invited to Asahikawa, Mr. Goto from the Asahikawa City Crafts Center would show us around five workshops a day. He would ask us, "What do you think we can do with the technology here?" We would then come up with ideas like, "Hmm... this is it!!" Then we'd say, "Okay, next!" and move on to the next workshop (laughs). We ended up visiting around 20 workshops like this.
Sasaki: So Takahashi Kogei was one of them?
Daiji and Ono: That's right.
Sasaki: Are there any other manufacturers in Asahikawa besides Takahashi Kogei that make your products?
Daiji: I only use Takahashi Kogei.
Ono: I work for three companies. In addition to Takahashi Kogei, I also work on furniture for Maruichi Naoya's TUC (Typical Under Construction) LLC and Yamamuro Furniture Factory. Maruichi was busy with work and discontinued the series at one point, but since 2020 Dreamy Person has been slowly reproducing it.
Sasaki: Daiji, you visited over 20 stores, but Takahashi Kogei was the only one that gave you a good response?
Daiji: I wonder. Looking back now, we didn't have any representative works at the time, and we were complete novices who had never even worked closely with a manufacturer. But Rin and I both just wanted to design. So we would come up with ideas, saying "What do you think? What do you think?", but I don't think there were that many manufacturers who wanted to start their own brand.
Ono: Because of the scale of the event, there were many people in the artist position, so they wanted to hear advice on sales channels and the like, but it wasn't like they wanted to develop something together with designers.
Daiji: I didn't really want to do it, and I barely had the energy to do it. I think it was the same for Takahashi Kogei, but Takahashi's courage was such that he supported the two of us.
Ono: That's right, I ended up holding those naughty boys in my arms.
Daiji: I think it was like, "Well, there's nothing I can do about it" (laughs).
Sasaki: How did you feel, Takahashi?
Takahashi: When I first spoke with Ono, I thought she had a slightly different image from the designers I'd worked with up until then. I thought maybe we could do something together, so I thought, "Maybe I should give it a try." Soon after, Daiji came along and we were like, "Okay! Let's do it!" I had created the wide, long, and free-form cups for Kami Glass, but at the time I didn't know what to do next. I was struggling with how to get them into the market. That's when Hino, Ono, and Daiji came along, and as I listened to them talk, I was convinced that we could do something together, so I said, "I'd love to do it!" That's how it went.
Daiji: Rin and I would always brainstorm ideas on the plane going to and from Asahikawa. Takahashi Kogei has Kami glass, so how can we build on that as a base? While I was making cutting boards, we would discuss how we could combine them to make them work well. Kami glass is a drinking vessel, so we thought about creating a product lineup that would be easy for various select shops to carry, by making food vessels (Cara) and wooden tools (Kakudo).
Ono: The Kakudo series was mostly made with an NC router, while Cara was made with a potter's wheel. Takahashi Kogei has the skills to use both a woodworking potter's wheel and a router, and we wanted to make the most of both. I spoke with Daiji on the plane to confirm that balance.
Sasaki: Daiji and Ono balance what we want to do and what we can do.
Daiji: That's right.
Ono: Even if I come up with an idea, if I think it would be better balanced if Daiji designed it, I'll be like, "Oh-chan, make this."
Daiji: It was like, "Okay, I'll draw a sketch then." And it happened the other way around too. It's a rare relationship that only exists between Rin and me. It's hard to imagine designers thinking together normally.
Sasaki: I'm sure there are people who thought the two of them were a married couple.
Ono: I've been asked, "Aren't you Daiji's sister?" (laughs).
Sasaki: Looking back, what do you think about the work you did for Takahashi Kogei when you were just starting out?
Daiji: I don't know. As Takahashi said, I was in the mood to just create at the time. I was just rushing ahead. But it's good. There was a passion that could only come from back then. Nowadays I would visit the workshop properly, listen to the situation, and make arrangements, but back then I just went ahead and dove in.
Ono: Yeah, it had momentum .
Sasaki: Did you notice anything like that, Takahashi?
Takahashi: Every time Daiji came, I could tell he was itching to give it shape. He didn't just sketch it, he would create a proper shape out of styrofoam and be like, "This is it! I'm going to do this out of wood!" (laughs).
Daiji: Oh man! It's still not that different now though (laughs).
Ono: At the time, we compared him to Mito Komon. Daiji is the type who takes out his inro from the very beginning. On the other hand, I'm the type who still hasn't taken out my inro even when the show is almost over (laughs).
Daiji: Did you bring your inro with you? Like that (laughs).