Animal's leather and
–
The relationship between leather and humans began with a hunting-based way of life and has continued since the Paleolithic era,
approximately two million years ago.
We receive life as food, accept leather as a byproduct, and carry it forward into time through use.
Leather exists within this continuous flow.
Today, across Japan, wild animals are captured and their populations managed due to changes in satoyama
ecosystems and agricultural damage.
Many of these animals are discarded, and while some are used as meat, the hides are often left unused and ultimately wasted.
Accepting the traces of life as a material is also one natural part of this cycle.
At tokawa, we work with the leather of wild animals not because it is a special material.
Rather, it is because there are parts that remain unused, and we felt there needed to be a place where their existence c
ould be acknowledged.
Referring to the leather of wild animals as “gibier leather” and conveying it in a form that can be
held in one’s hands is one of tokawa roles.
Additionally, materials born across different regions of Japan each carry the background and time of their land.
Receiving these materials and shaping them into something that can be held in Tokyo is also part of tokawa work.
approximately two million years ago.
We receive life as food, accept leather as a byproduct, and carry it forward into time through use.
Leather exists within this continuous flow.
Today, across Japan, wild animals are captured and their populations managed due to changes in satoyama
ecosystems and agricultural damage.
Many of these animals are discarded, and while some are used as meat, the hides are often left unused and ultimately wasted.
Accepting the traces of life as a material is also one natural part of this cycle.
At tokawa, we work with the leather of wild animals not because it is a special material.
Rather, it is because there are parts that remain unused, and we felt there needed to be a place where their existence c
ould be acknowledged.
Referring to the leather of wild animals as “gibier leather” and conveying it in a form that can be
held in one’s hands is one of tokawa roles.
Additionally, materials born across different regions of Japan each carry the background and time of their land.
Receiving these materials and shaping them into something that can be held in Tokyo is also part of tokawa work.
text: ATSUSHI TAKAMISAWA
photo: SHIZUKA SUZUKI
photo: SHIZUKA SUZUKI
Image and production process
–
At tokawa, we receive leather in its natural state and treat its expressions as material for design.
Scars and abrasions are read as part of the history the material has carried, and creation begins by considering
how they can be brought to life.
Even when products share the same form, no two expressions are ever the same.
Each piece is one of a kind, bearing the traces of a different life.
Scars and abrasions are read as part of the history the material has carried, and creation begins by considering
how they can be brought to life.
Even when products share the same form, no two expressions are ever the same.
Each piece is one of a kind, bearing the traces of a different life.
Products and Brands
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Six COUP DE FOUDRE is our in-house brand, named when we first began working with leather.
In French, it means “the sixth thunder,” and by extension, “love at first sight.”
Rather than relying on logic, we create by trusting the sensation felt in the moment of encounter.
The name expresses this way of working.
As we continued to engage with leather through this brand, tokawa was born as a place to receive and hold the questions
that arose along the way.
In French, it means “the sixth thunder,” and by extension, “love at first sight.”
Rather than relying on logic, we create by trusting the sensation felt in the moment of encounter.
The name expresses this way of working.
As we continued to engage with leather through this brand, tokawa was born as a place to receive and hold the questions
that arose along the way.
tokawa
–
Asakusa, Kappabashi.
On a back street just one step away from the bustle of the tourist district, there is a small atelier.
Located beside a town where chefs come in search of tools, it is a place that receives leather left behind after food.
The atelier’s address is 2-29-8 (ni-niku-ya).
Life is received as food, and its traces are then passed on as leather.
In a narrow back alley of Asakusa, there is a shop called tokawa, dedicated to leather and the things that surround it.
On a back street just one step away from the bustle of the tourist district, there is a small atelier.
Located beside a town where chefs come in search of tools, it is a place that receives leather left behind after food.
The atelier’s address is 2-29-8 (ni-niku-ya).
Life is received as food, and its traces are then passed on as leather.
In a narrow back alley of Asakusa, there is a shop called tokawa, dedicated to leather and the things that surround it.
