Favorite miscellaneous goods enrich our lives.
Using favorite dishes can make home time more enjoyable, and using cute dishcloths can make us a bit more positive about chores we dislike.
The author loves miscellaneous goods and worked for a manufacturer that handled them until a few years ago.
The representative of the miscellaneous goods brand I have admired for a long time is Kurashiki Design Planning Office.
I would like to introduce "Kurashiki Design Achibranch," the only directly managed store of the Kurashiki Design Planning Office.
As of July 2021, we are operating with shortened hours.
Business hours: 11 AM to 4 PM
This article has been specially authorized for photography.
What is Kurashiki Design Achibranch?
Kurashiki Design Achibranch is the first and only directly managed store of the lifestyle goods manufacturers "Kurashiki Design Planning Office" and "Kurashiki Design Branch".
Kurashiki Design Planning Office is based in Kurashiki City and plans and sells original items in collaboration with artists and craftsmen from various regions across the country.
Since they wholesale to miscellaneous goods stores nationwide, you may have picked up a product from Kurashiki Design Planning Office without knowing it.
"Kurashiki Design Achibranch" is located on the first floor of the main building of the design market for clothing, food, and housing, Hayashi Genjuro Pharmacy Museum.
The Hayashi Genjuro Pharmacy Museum, which has been renovated from an old pharmacy, proposes a "rich lifestyle."
The "Kurashiki Design Achibranch," which can be considered its face, has a calm appearance that blends well with the historic building.
About 3,000 types of products are lined up, most of which are original products.
The store consists of the following three spaces.
- A permanent space selling almost all items from "Kurashiki Design Planning Office" and "Kurashiki Design Branch"
- A gallery space that holds monthly exhibitions
- A workshop space that occasionally hosts classes by various artists and creators
Features of Kurashiki Design Planning Office's Products
The products of "Kurashiki Design Achibranch" are tasteful lifestyle goods and stationery made throughout Japan.
They create many items that are comfortable and humorous, showcasing good taste.
The products are planned by the representative, Tanabe Shinsuke.
I first learned about Kurashiki Design Planning Office during my student days.
I remember seeing it introduced as "favorite miscellaneous goods" by someone I admired in several magazines.
The way users spoke affectionately about the products was impressive.
Kurashiki Design Planning Office has many fans nationwide.
There are many items that resonate with the feelings of the creators, making you want to cherish them, use them for a long time, and talk about them.
Introduction of Some Products from Kurashiki Design Planning Office
What kind of items are available? Let me introduce some.
Copper Plate Transfer Plates
Toraneko Bonbon's "Common Western Tableware" series is a slightly heavy tableware shape used in restaurants.
Being used in business means it is durable and easy to handle.
It has warmth, is not clumsy, and has a shape that does not get boring.
Many of the patterned plates currently circulating in the market are made by applying a transfer sheet after applying glaze to the plate and firing it again at a low temperature.
Toraneko Bonbon's "Common Western Tableware" series and katakata's printed plates use a technique called "copper plate transfer."
The design is printed with pigments on special Japanese paper, then manually moistened and attached to the bisque ware to transfer the design, followed by glazing and firing.
The colors that can be produced are limited, but the design does not fade even after long use.
Due to the characteristics of copper plate transfer, if you look closely, you can see color variations where the Japanese paper has wrinkled or blurred.
Mr. Tanabe says, "I know that many people dislike products that are faded or blurred. However, we like the nuances that come from using the copper plate transfer technique."
The atmosphere of copper plate transfer, which is not too rigid, felt comfortable.
Machine Embroidered Bags
This is a bag made by a machine embroidery artist.
Originally a one-of-a-kind piece, it has been reproduced using machine embroidery.
Machine embroidery can automatically stitch the same design by programming it.
However, they intentionally change the tension of the thread by varying the thickness of the upper and lower threads.
The characteristics include thread tension and thread clumping.
Since each piece has a slightly different expression, please compare them in the store.
In ordinary machine embroidery, once set up, it can be left alone to complete.
However, this series intentionally disrupts the thread tension, so there is extra work involved in stopping the machine occasionally to check the progress.
Mr. Tanabe shared the following charm:
"Even if made by machine, we aim for a non-uniform finish. In a sense, that is also a craftsman's skill. Although it involves extra work, this technique brings a different flavor compared to simply sewing neatly."
There were also towel handkerchiefs and bento wraps.
Gala Spun Towels
Gala spun refers to a spinning machine invented in Japan in the early Meiji period.
It spins thread slowly, so its efficiency is less than one-hundredth compared to the latest spinning machines, and it cannot produce uniform thin threads.
The thread produced by gala spinning is thick, irregularly bumpy, fluffy, and loose.
It is very close to hand-spun thread.
The unevenness of the thread, which was a disadvantage during the era when gala spinning was mainstream, is now seen as an attractive "gala spun texture" by many people.
Currently, most domestic factories that spin gala spun thread have gone out of business, and the factory that was trading with Kurashiki Design Planning Office can no longer produce thread.
Therefore, they produce thread at a factory in Laos that has adopted Japanese gala spinning and knit the thread into towels in a Japanese company.
These towels have high water absorption and a soft feel against the skin.
Invoices and Office Stamps
It may not be very appropriate to feature a receipt as a product introduction for a store with many unique and cute items.
However, I believe that the existence of such understated items is one of the charms of the Kurashiki Design Planning Office.
On a personal note, one of the challenges I faced when I became a freelancer was finding handwritten duplicate receipts.
I surprisingly couldn't find an existing receipt that felt right for me.
There were very common, bureaucratic ones, overly decorative ones, and girly ones.
While I think there is a demand for all of them, I couldn't bring myself to like them much.
After researching a lot of information online, what I thought was "this is it" was the receipt from the Kurashiki Design Planning Office.
It has no excessive embellishments, is simple and easy to understand, and has no unpleasant aspects. It is a duplicate receipt with a backing.
For me, it was the best receipt that met my necessary conditions in a realistic way.
Kurashiki Design offers several types of slips, including different shapes, English and Japanese versions, billing sheets, and reservation slips.
In daily life, there are tools that are niche yet necessary, and you might feel, "I don't want to use a product I don't like."
Even for inconspicuous products, being able to obtain stylish items that make you think, "I want to use this," is something I feel very grateful for.
How are the attractive products from Kurashiki Design created?
I asked the representative, Mr. Tanabe, about the origins and thoughts behind the Kurashiki Design Planning Office and Kurashiki Design Achibranch.
Data of Kurashiki Design Achibranch
| Name | Kurashiki Design Achibranch |
|---|---|
| Address | 1st floor, Hayashi Genjuro Pharmacy Museum, 2-23-10 Achi, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Contact | 086-441-7710 |
| Parking | None |
| Business Hours | 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM (10:00 AM to 5:00 PM on weekdays from December to February) |
| Regular Holidays | Monday If Monday is a holiday, it will be moved to Tuesday |
| Payment Methods |
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| Website | Kurashiki Design atiburanti |
