Originally specialising in handcrafting Buddhist altar articles and utensils for tea ceremony, in 2001 Nousaku started creating a line of products such as bells, wind chimes, vases, metal sake dinner sets and the like using cleaner, contemporary designs (mostly made of tin, as well as brass and other metals). The surfaces of these metal products, unlike other ordinary items, are intentionally made to look rough for design effect. In the current line, the best selling items are the tin-based KAGO series (which come in handy as an iPod holder), which users can bend in whatever shapes as they please. Doing away with distribution middlemen, the company is selling directly to consumers. As such, these new items now account for 54% of the company’s total sales. They’re on sale at the Mitsukoshi flagship store in Nihonbashi, Tokyo.

Katsuji Nousaku, CEO, talks in the following about the Nousaku items:

Nousaku tin & copper factory details

46-1 Toidesakaemachi Takaokashi, Toyama
Telephone +81 76 663 5080
www.nousaku.co.jp/en/