Sketches are my half-baked ideas, projects and notes for articles. I scribble them on napkins, random notebook pages or in my phone’s notes app.
Today’s missive is from several activities I took part in during London Design Festival in September 2025. The common denominator was Japanese craftsmanship with practical lessons about choosing place over prestige, how craft expertise can evolve into unexpected industries, and what screen-bound workers can learn from using hand tools.
Sake made of Misato
My friend, textile designer Kyoko Wainai, led an eclectic exhibition by makers from Akita Prefecture in Northern Japan under the banner “From Akita to London: Passing on Wisdom”. Among them was Kuribayashi Brewery & Co, which makes Harukasumi sake in the town of Misato.
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