Kyotos Townhouse Hotel: Both in business and in life, timing is crucial. Following their nearly simultaneous debuts in Kyoto, Japan, in 2019, entrepreneurs Tina Koyama and Hana Tsukamoto decided to launch the purpose-driven POJ Studio lifestyle brand and online store. The team is now announcing an even more ambitious and comprehensive strategy after having more time to broaden their perspective during the pandemic.
The physical location of POJ (“Pieces of Japan”) Studio debuted in September 2022. It shared a roof with Kissa Kishin café and Maana Kiyomizu, a brand-new boutique hotel with three guest suites. This carefully planned community represents Koyama and Tsukamoto’s commitment to modernising traditional craftsmen and heritage crafts while supporting and promoting them. It’s the perfect moment for this team to welcome guests into this one-of-a-kind experience because Japan will reopen in October.
Before founding POJ Studio, Koyama, who was born and raised in Switzerland and had a Japanese mother who worked with Japanese imports, felt a specific urge to action. Visits to “craftspeople who were struggling,” she recalled. When she visited Japan, she recalls being “shocked by the state of the crafts industry.” When she resided in Silicon Valley and worked in the computer sector, she observed a lot of interest in Japanese crafts, but many of the craftspeople there would warn her, “This is the last generation.” After she and her husband relocated to Kyoto, Koyama became more and more inspired to take action in response to this frequently expressed condition of circumstances as she encountered masters in numerous arts.
Tsukamoto, who had lived in the United States since she was 12 years old and had built a career as an art director in New York City, was introduced to her by a common acquaintance. Tsukamoto had returned to Kyoto to care for her ailing mother. Their mutual love for preserving Japanese cultural history while incorporating modern sensibilities gradually developed into a company. In 2020, the two created POJ Studio with the intention of introducing makers and artisans to a larger global market. The website and Instagram feed of POJ Studio feature the works of craftsmen who let their own originality show through as well as others who continue to use techniques and abilities that have been perfected over many years. However, Koyama says that they politely collaborate with their partners when a little different approach or small aesthetic change can assist increase the attractiveness of particular products. “We have ideas of how to tweak everything,” he adds.
Tsukamoto was already working to revive the machiya, a tiny, wood-framed home form that is a significant part of Kyoto’s native architectural legacy, when he co-founded POJ Studio. Tsukamoto remembers, “I read this story about these historic townhouses in Japan, which I had no information about. “They were destroying them, so I decided to do this,” said the actor. So, in 2018, she co-founded Maana Homes with a friend who has experience in hotel design. This small-scale initiative renovates machiya townhouses for transient habitation. (After often travelling back and forth between the U.S. and Japan, Tsukamoto made Kyoto his permanent home the following year.)
Although Koyama isn’t officially associated with Maana Homes, there is a natural relationship between the two projects. Soon-to-open Within the machiya Shigenori Uoya and Takeshi Ikei refurbished, Maana Kiyomizu and POJ Studio are next-door neighbours. They are close to the main Kyoto attractions yet being in a quiet residential area. A lot of POJ Studio items have been included into Maana Homes’ houses, and some of the suites’ components may be purchased. Tsukamoto says, “We just wanted to stand out from the pack. I don’t enjoy doing anything routine, and the individuals I work with are so inspirational. Other congenial manufacturers and brands, including Aria Kyoto and Karimoku Case Study, are featured in the POJ store itself. Although Kissa Kishin is privately held, the collaborative atmosphere among these solely female-owned and -operated businesses is significant.
Koyama and Tsukamoto have a special place where they hold workshops and rotating exhibitions of local artists and craftspeople. Because POJ Studio places a strong emphasis on repair, the company sells DIY kintsugi kits on its website. These repair classes are also available in person. As a consumer products company, Koyama explains, “We want to make repairs very accessible because we want these handcrafted goods to be used for a long time.”
