A triumphant exhibition of Japanese brands that exhibited at Maison & Objet Paris, a global interior and product design trade fair held in Paris alongside Milano Salone, kicked off at the Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi Main Store on June 1st. This exhibition, the only one in Japan officially authorized by Maison & Objet Paris, held its first triumphant exhibition last October. This second exhibition will be held in the main building's first-floor hall and fifth-floor living area. It features pop-up displays of 16 Japanese lifestyle brands and one organization that have earned high acclaim in Paris for their modern designs that combine traditional Japanese techniques and delicate craftsmanship. The first-floor hall will be open until the 7th, and the fifth floor until June 28th. Following on from the previous exhibition, SFERA, with design studios and shops in Kyoto and Milan, will be exhibiting on both the first and fifth floors. SUZUSAN, a German-based company developing products based on the Arimatsu shibori technique from Nagoya, will also be exhibiting. In the central hall on the first floor, which is clad with French red mottled marble and Italian egg-yellow marble, both designated as Important Cultural Properties, design products that represent a new image of Japan are lined up against a backdrop of a statue of a celestial maiden. In the same hall on the first floor (open until the 7th), there will be booths for woodworking brands such as Kinomo, from Inomata Art Joinery in Joetsu City, Niigata, which uses the "Kumiko" technique, which has been highly acclaimed at international trade fairs such as Milano Salone and Ambiente in Frankfurt, to create small boxes and objects in three dimensions; Sugata Katachi, a wooden door handle brand created by sculptor Yasushi Takahashi and which is also used as the door handle for JR Kyushu's Seven Stars trains; ALMAJIRO, a woven veneer made by artisans at Marumatsu Meikiten in Akita; and Paper Wood, from Takiguchi Plywood in Hokkaido, which creates beautiful striped wood edges by sandwiching colored paper between plywood. Other booths will also be set up, including furniture rugs ZAPPETO; METALSPICE, a metal art company that applies the cutting technology of Kyoto's Kawanami Steel, which was founded over 100 years ago, to its designs; and Yume Shokunin from Minoh, Osaka, which developed MISOKA, a toothbrush that can be brushed with just water thanks to its nano-mineral coating on the bristles. This is the first time these two companies have gathered in Japan outside of Paris, and products are actually on sale.

Also, Gallery Life Mining on the 5th floor of the main building features noteworthy products from long-established manufacturers that are adapting their technologies to modern lifestyles, such as OVO Ceramics, which produces tableware that expresses the texture of New York-acclaimed fabrics in ceramic; Hibi, a collaboration between two long-established companies that produce incense from Awaji Island and matches from Harima; Taniguchi Aoya Washi, which offers modern lampshades and other products based on Tottori's traditional handmade washi paper techniques; Aoyoshi Seisakusho, which produces cutlery from Tsubame City, Niigata; Takezasado, a Kyoto-based long-established hand-printed woodblock print company founded in 1891 (Meiji 24); Kadomi Optical, which developed the FROM NOWHERE prayer tool made from optical glass; and Masking Color, a peel-off water-based paint.

In addition, the same area also displays and sells products from the "Tokyo Handicrafts" project, which promotes Tokyo's traditional crafts to the world, including Edo Kiriko glass, Tokyo Shippo, Edo Sarasa, Edo joinery, Edo silverware, dyeing, woodblock prints, braided cords, brushes, bamboo blinds, and wickerwork.

Text: Noda Tatsuya