MONO MAKERS PROGRAM — Japanese Craft & Innovation
One-day Pop-up at MONO JAPAN STORE
Wednesday, 21 October 2026
12:00–18:00
Since 2021, NN Life Insurance Company and MONO JAPAN have been running the MONO MAKERS PROGRAM (MMP), a Japan–Netherlands collaboration programme connecting Japanese makers with designers and creatives in Europe.
For this one-day pop-up, discover products created by three participating Japanese makers, with representatives from each company joining us at MONO JAPAN STORE. Meet the people behind the products, learn about their materials and craftsmanship, and explore the stories behind their collaboration and development.
NN Life Insurance Company will also present the MONO MAKERS PROGRAM, showcasing the programme and the collaborations that have emerged from the encounter between Japanese craftsmanship and Dutch design.
Through these collaborations, traditional techniques and materials meet new perspectives and contemporary ideas — creating new possibilities for Japanese makers and their work in Europe.
The Makers
TATSUMI — Sakai, Osaka
Crafting the next 100 years.
For approximately 100 years, Tatsumi Kigi Seisakusho has specialised in making wooden handles for Japanese kitchen knives in Sakai, Osaka.
As craftspeople who make these handles are gradually aging and retiring, Tatsumi began looking for ways to create a sustainable future for the craft — and to ensure that wooden handle makers can still be working 100 years from now.
Using wood and offcuts from the production of knife handles, Tatsumi creates small wooden objects that invite you to touch, hold and explore their natural forms.
For this pop-up, discover their handcrafted flower vases, shaped from the same materials and techniques used in their traditional craft.
Each piece reflects the natural variations of the wood and the character of handmade production — while offering a new way to experience the skills of a craft that has been rooted in Sakai for a century.
KAMIKA — Ogawa, Saitama
A bin born from waste.
KAMIKA is a consumer brand created by Sekine Seal Industrial, a Japanese paper manufacturer founded in 1946 in Ogawa, Saitama — a town with a 1,300-year history of washi papermaking.
KAMIKA BIN is a flat-pack wastebasket made from paper recycled from the factory's own manufacturing waste. The material is much denser than ordinary paper, with a supple, leather-like texture. Pick it up and you might wonder: “Is this really paper?”
The bin is made from two simple paper cylinders. No tools or frame are needed, and the bin liner is neatly hidden inside. Its open-bottom “chimney” structure allows it to flex and fit into the spaces between furniture.
Designed to be shipped and stored completely flat, KAMIKA BIN also reduces volume during transportation and storage.
By turning its own industrial waste into a useful object for everyday life, KAMIKA explores how traditional paper-making expertise and modern manufacturing can create new possibilities for a more sustainable future.
PAPER OR — Echizen, Fukui
Paper—or something beyond paper?
PAPER OR was born in 2026 through a collaboration between Yamagishi Washi, an Echizen washi paper wholesaler with approximately 75 years of history, and Taku Sasaki, Art Director and Designer at KOKUYO.
Echizen washi has a history of more than 1,500 years. PAPER OR reinterprets its rich expressions, unique textures and generations of craftsmanship through a contemporary perspective.
The result is a collection that challenges our idea of what paper can be — transforming traditional washi into objects for contemporary life.
For this pop-up, discover PAPER OR's Survey Field Notebook, Stickers and Essential Oil. Each product explores washi in a different way, from three-dimensional handmade surfaces to a paper stone made from leftover material generated during the washi-making process.
Rather than simply preserving tradition, PAPER OR seeks to carry it into the future by giving it new perspectives and new possibilities.
About the MONO MAKERS PROGRAM
The MONO MAKERS PROGRAM (MMP) is a Japan–Netherlands collaboration programme run by NN Life Insurance Company and MONO JAPAN.
The programme supports Japanese businesses working in traditional industries, crafts and manufacturing through collaboration with designers and creatives from the Netherlands and beyond. By bringing together Japanese skills, materials and manufacturing knowledge with new creative perspectives and design approaches, MMP aims to develop new products and create opportunities for Japanese makers in the European market.
Participants receive support not only for product development with creative partners, but also for networking, market research, exhibitions and test marketing in Europe.
Through cross-border collaboration, MMP aims to support the next generation of Japanese makers and contribute to the sustainable development of traditional industries.
