Spotlight on Hender Scheme

We are beginning our next lineup of exhibitions with none other than Hender Scheme. We couldn’t be more excited for this one! More details to come but for now, mark your calenders! The exhibition will be held at our NYC store in early September. The opening will be on the evening of Friday, September 9th. As we prep for the show in the coming weeks, we will be focusing on stories and behind the scenes features of the brand, starting with this Journal entry.

On our last trip to Japan we paid a visit to Hender Scheme’s founder and designer, Ryo Kashiwazaki at his headquarters in Tokyo. Here are images from that visit that include a few of the leather home goods you can expect to see at our upcoming exhibition. Over the years Ryo has become a really great friend of ours. It’s been a joy watching his brand develop and seeing the work that goes into his collections. Although we only carry Hender Scheme home goods at our store, we love seeing the process of his footwear collections unfold at his studio. The footwear sketches and final products are always innovative much like Hender Scheme’s leather home products.

The Hender Scheme offices occupy an entire four floor building located in the Asakusa neighborhood of Tokyo. It has awesome views of the surrounding neighborhood from his rooftop where the team often goes for breaks. Ryo situated the offices in this area to to be near his footwear manufacturers. These makers are skilled in traditional leather shoe smithing, something that not too many people still know how to do. Many are actually going out of business due to overseas manufacturing. Amiss this growing pressure, Ryo likes to work with these artisans, giving them a way to continue their craft. One that is slowly being lost.

Since Ryo recently had a baby he has been quite the busy man but he is always so generous with his time, showing us around to his favourite restaurants and bars in Tokyo. We’re looking forward to finally being able to return the favour when he comes to New York in September.

We hope to see you all at the exhibition!