Quickfire with Ryo Kashiwazaki of Hender Scheme

As Time Goes By with Ryo Kashiwazaki

It’s no surprise that the Hender Scheme products stand out amongst our other handmade items. This may be in part due to the fact that the brand is a guest curation by HAVEN co-founder Daniel Chmielewski, but also due to Hender Scheme’s uncommon use of leather in the homewares industry. While the majority of our artisans work with materials such as ceramic, metal and wood, Hender Scheme has honed their skills in a very specific material – natural veg-tan leather. This type of hide is known for it’s smooth, dense surface and lack of color from chromium pigments or other harmful dyes. The result is a pale beige tone that intensifies into a rich caramel color the more it is used. These remarkable effects created from the aging process is often compared to metal alloys that patina through oxidization – metals like brass that turn dark brown or tin that eventually become black. Appreciating the beauty of this sort of dynamic change in a material over the course of its lifetime is a Japanese design concept called Wabi Sabi, and the reason why we’ve always felt Hender Scheme products fit well within our roster.

A few years ago, we became fixated with veg-tan leather as a raw material and eventually began working closely with company founder and designer Ryo Kashiwazaki. We’ve always felt his design aesthetic, and mastery with leather was perfectly suited in the realm of home product design. Through multiple visits to their Asakusa headquarters, we have seen the evolution of the company from its inception as a footwear-focused brand to their pioneering exploration into a wide-range of categories including furniture and home goods.

Since it was Daniel that first introduced us to Hender Scheme back in 2012, it is only fair to commend him and the HAVEN team on their incredible discovery and coverage of the brand’s development in the apparel industry. An informative feature can be found here, but if you’re looking for a recent in-depth interview, our favorite can be found in intelligence Magazine issue 02. In this Backstory, we took a different approach. Over the years we have come to know Ryo on a personal level and have enjoyed his company as a friend as much as we have appreciated the opportunity to work with him as a business partner. Read on as we take a few minutes with Ryo for a round of twenty quick Q&A’s that give a glimpse into the personal interests of this designer that we are glad to continuously grow with as the years go by.

The interview was conducted in English and Japanese. Both languages are published so as to not lose any meaning in translation for native readers.

The rotating wood door entrance to the Hender Scheme headquarters

“I judge myself by my own standard“.

-Ryo Kashiwazaki

A reflection inside the Hender Scheme showroom in Tokyo

Specialty leather sewing machines

Backstory Credits: Words by Angélique Chmielewski and Stevenson Aung, Photos by M. Johnson, Translation by Greg Lekich and Aya Nihei