Makers & Brands

An object takes shape through choices about use, materials, and how it is made. Meet the Japanese brands and makers TOKOWAKA introduces through those decisions.

Yohakuwo

Woodworker Taro Horikoshi moved from spatial design into woodworking. He considers how a tool is used and what it looks like in a room when not in use.

Meet Taro Horikoshi and Yohakuwo

Ofukuro-san

Ringo Jōsan began by making a rice-sack bag for herself. She turns former packaging into tote bags and shares ways to reuse rice sacks through workshops.

When she returned to making, her daughter Rin was five and her son Jō was three. She combined their names and ages into the Japanese artist name Ringo Jōsan, which she still uses today.

Read the Ofukuro-san Story

BRANDS

Makers & Brands

An object takes shape through choices about use, materials, and how it is made. Meet the Japanese brands and makers TOKOWAKA introduces through those decisions.

Taro Horikoshi working on wood at a planer in his workshop

Taro Horikoshi | Woodworker

Yohakuwo

From interior design to the woodworking shop, Taro Horikoshi brings his eye for space to everyday tools. A roof lifts off to become a chopstick rest; a coffee filter becomes a sail. Use and storage are considered together from the start.

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Photos courtesy of ホリコシ製作所

Ringo Jōsan looking down at a sewing machine, guiding a kraft paper bag with both hands

Ringo Jōsan | Rice-Sack Bag Maker

Ofukuro-san

After finishing the rice her family sent, Ringo Jōsan would fold the empty sacks and send them back. Only later did she learn they were being thrown away. Needing a light bag for her handmade dolls, she sewed a rice sack into a tote. When she took it to a market, someone asked to buy it. That was the beginning of Ofukuro-san.

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Photos courtesy of Ringo Jōsan