LIVING
Monday, May 13, 2013Fans of Japanese aesthetics flock to Kansai design shops
For an alternative to Tokyo’s crowded shopping precincts, try Osaka’s design shops in the Kansai region.
Tools for living
IF you’re looking for an archetypal, homegrown Osaka “product”, look no further than Graf, a design collective started by six buddies from the Kansai region.
‘No design’ design
WHEN furniture maker Tokuhiko Kise and his illustrator wife Hiromi Karatsu started Truck Furniture in 1997 to design, make and sell furniture, they only made things they liked. Turned out, lots of other people loved what they did. So much so that Truck has racked up a huge cult following in Japan and abroad.
The craft of making things
AT first glance, Zuko Labo seems like your typical zakka boutique, stocking cute incense holders shaped like wooden houses with chimneys, quirky hiragana-shaped bookmarks, and pared-down but sleek leather namecard holders.
With forever in mind
IF you only have time to visit one interior shop in Kansai, let it be D&Department Project Osaka.
Shelf Life
DO you keep your walls bare because you fear that drilling and hammering will result in unsightly holes and cracks?
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