We started our activities in the winter of 2014 under the name of "Shitamachi Lab".
In April 2020, we changed our name to "Kawamura".
We moved from Tokyo to Nagoya in 2019. We thought of changing our brand name because we no longer live in the "shitamachi" area, a downtown known for its craftsmanship in Tokyo. And we wanted to keep the name of Satoru's grandfather, who was a craftsman he respects. So, we took part in his grandfather's workshop, "Kawamura Bag Factory," and named the brand after it.
With the change of brand name, we also started selling my wife Shiho's clothing works under the name of KAWAMURA Sewing.
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The husband, Satoru, creates mainly acorns carved out of wood using traditional woodworking techniques that he learned in Takayama City, Gifu Prefecture. He also creates small leather goods using techniques and tools that he inherited from his grandfather, who was a bag maker.
With the concept of "portable art," he tries to express the delicacy and life of familiar plants that can be found around us.
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The wife Shiho, after a serious illness, has been making clothes that are gentle to the body with her unique ingenuity. She makes use of vintage kimono fabrics with designs to avoid fabric waste based on Japanese traditional KIMONO making.
Bags and brooches made from leftover fabric are an attempt to reduce the amount of fabric that goes to waste.