Atelier Visit // Haru Nomura

Immersed into the crossroad of plant-dyed world and linen bags

I can’t believe we finished the epic BK anniversary retreat in Kyoto. Without needing to go into details, you can see my lack of posts here as a great sign of joy and connection with our team :)

On our first full day in Kyoto, we had the pleasure of visiting Haru's (Haruka Nomura) atelier/workshop. Haru has been designing and dyeing linen bags using her original plant-based colors for the last 12 years. Through Kei’s introduction, the chance to visit her studio with our team members has blossomed into a beautiful encounter.

Prior to the studio visit, I spent a few weeks browsing through Haru’s website and various platforms where she shares her stories to get to know her better, and I just knew it would be a magical visit.

We took two buses to cross the prefectural line and into the mountains alongside a creek that eventually flows into Kyoto City. As the bus navigated through a narrow canyon road, my mind instantly traveled back to our canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Haru’s studio/home was beautifully discreet from the outside and a fairytale inside. We spent most of the afternoon together, hearing about her process, tools, and stories behind the artifacts she designed and produced. I am an entirely tactile person, so being able to pick up the natural materials before and after the dying process, as well as seeing the prototype materials and objects, including traditional Japanese utilitarian fabrics, gave me a tangible sense of getting to know her and her way of thinking of doing. I also appreciated her approach to supporting her clients in continuing to build relationships via her mending/redying service, which she periodically offers. Through BK’s Truly Yours service, I have come to experience a similar feeling to welcoming back the artifacts we have sent out to the world in the past, as they return to us during the customization process. The feeling is so precious, like having our kids come home (projecting into my not-so-far future as an empty nester). In the fast-paced consumption culture we live in, I know we are a rare species of brands that value longer-term relationships over focusing on selling more. In this sense, I also felt a deep camaraderie with Haru.

For BK and me, I have embraced encounters like this in the past as a mysterious force of the universe. Many of the BK collections that we have nurtured and tended over the last fifteen years have come from these encounters, rather than a trade show visit (we have never actually attended a stationery trade show to source our collection) or scrolling through other similar retailers' selections. Instead, they have all started from a conversation, curiosity, and genuine love for artists and their artifacts.

While we were still at Haru’s studio, I got to choose one of her linen bags that had been freshly dyed with “Kaki Shibu” (fermented persimmon dye, a traditional dye in Japanese culture). Each bag she designs is lovingly hand-stamped with its birthday, the name of the dye used, and the humidity and temperature of the day it was dyed. Of course, it took forever for me to pick “the bag”, as I know it will most likely be a forever bag that withstands time, wear, and tear. Between the many options of beautiful, naturally dyed colors, the innate personality each bag possesses, and the love and care put into individual bags by Haru, it felt impossible to pick just one. But I went with the one that spoke to me the most, and it was the one in Kaki Shibu. Since the bag was part of the brand-new batch, it hadn’t had all the information stamped yet. I am grateful that she kindly let me stamp all of the details to start the new relationship with the bag. Compared to other colors, the fabrics dyed in Kaki Shibu start out very “very” crunchy but quickly begin to develop the softness that wraps perfectly around the body. Based on the worn-in examples of the bags, Haru had them displayed at her studio, the fabric will, over time, resemble a lovingly worn-in leather. Even the idea of witnessing the shift over time feels like such a gift to me.

p.s. Through our dialogue, we found our mutual love for Traveler’s Notebook!!!! So, of course, we compared how our covers were wearing in, and how we were using our notebooks. That was truly a “cherry on top” moment for our visit.