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Philosophy

Material is the source of value.

Drawing on the wisdom of making that has been nurtured within Japan's history, culture, and natural environment,

we explore the comfort the coming era will need.


In Japanese architecture, everyday tools, and daily clothing,

ingenuity for living comfortably—wasting nothing, adapting to the user and the environment—has been handed down.

To layer new ideas onto wisdom and experience cultivated over a long time.

That is the origin of our design.

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Director

DESIGNER

Kanako Kajihara

After graduating from the Textile Design Department of Tama Art University and working at Issey Miyake Textile Planning, she moved to the UK.

She completed a master's degree in Fashion and Textile Design at the Royal College of Art (RCA), London.
After becoming the first Japanese designer to win the Grand Prix at TEXPRINT 2005 Breaking New Ground Award, a gateway competition for emerging designers in the UK, she went independent.

In 2006 she founded KAJIHARA DESIGN STUDIO, traveling throughout Japan to develop materials with regional mills, communicate globally, and work with leading maisons in Europe and America.

In 2017 she opened the multi-use facility "COQ" in Sapporo, Hokkaido.

In 2022 she launched COQ KANAKO KAJIHARA.

Awards

  • Silver Prize, Five Art Universities Exhibition｜1998 (Japan)
  • TEXPRINT 2005｜Breaking New Ground Award Grand Prix (UK: first Japanese winner)
  • PREMIÈRE VISION PV Awards 2014｜The Grand Jury Prize (Paris: first Japanese company)
  • Senken Award｜2020
  • Japan Space Design Award, Sustainable Award｜2024
  • 20th LIFE × DESIGN Grand Prix｜2026

Our Mission, Vision, Values

MISSION

Researching and sharing innovation, comfort, and delight.

We research the innovation of materials and the comfort of products, centered on wearability and function,

and pair them with unique design to propose products that enrich the mood of everyday life.

VISION

Renewing the options for comfort.

By combining traditional techniques, future needs, and original ideas, we build diverse material values and styles,

renewing the expression of comfort for each era and spreading it to the world.

VALUE

Taking on the making of the future.

Through exchange with makers and users, we keep crossing ideas and lead technical innovation,

and, on a foundation of transparent production,

take on materials and products that cross conventional lines, along with branding and platform building.

Dialog

Through dialogue with the people we work with and our customers,

we align on current issues, what needs solving, required uses, and conditions,

untangle concepts and product ideas, and give them form.

Crossing

We fuse inspiration gained through dialogue and daily life with other ideas,

and develop it into new innovation.

Transmute

When something seems "impossible," or when we hit a wall, we question the structure, method, and values,

and find the direction in which it becomes "possible."