Craftal 食器サブスクリプションサービス by Culture Generation Japan is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 A' Design Award 銅賞 in 文化遺産・文化産業デザイン Competition Category.
銅文化遺産· 2022
Craftal 食器サブスクリプションサービス
Client: Craftal
A' Design Award 銅賞 Winner in 文化遺産 Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #139328The Design
About Craftal 食器サブスクリプションサービス
Craftalは、日本の工芸食器をレストランや一般家庭に提供するサブスクリプションサービスです。利用者は実店舗のギャラリーまたはオンラインカタログから30点を選び、選定にあたってはキュレーターのサポートを受けることもできます。選ばれた食器は3ヶ月間のお試し期間として届けられ、期間終了後は交換または返却が可能です。返却された品は物流センターでメンテナンスを施した後、次の利用者へと送られます。本サービスは職人とその作品を実際に使う人々をつなぎ、直接寄せられるフィードバックが製品開発に生かされる仕組みを実現しています。
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award 銅賞
Craftal 食器サブスクリプションサービスは、創造性、独創性、鋭い洞察力で際立つ傑出したデザインに授与される、高い権威をもつ評価である A' Design Award 銅賞の受賞作品です。銅賞の受賞作品は、十分に巧みで印象的なほど創造的な工芸品であり、デザイナーの豊富な経験、想像力、機知を裏づけています。Craftal 食器サブスクリプションサービスは、高く評価され、称賛され、愛される品であり、顕著にプロフェッショナルで革新的であることが期待されます。この A' Design Award 銅賞を受賞したデザインは、芸術・科学・デザイン・技術のベストプラクティスを取り入れており、細部への配慮に優れています。Craftal 食器サブスクリプションサービスは、ニーズを見事に満たし、欲求に触れ、感情を魅了し、好奇心を引きつけます。
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- Craftal is a subscription service that provides Japanese craft tableware to restaurants and households, fostering a new environment where people can meet a wide variety of traditional crafts from all over Japan. This platform to solve these issues faced by both the restaurant side and the craftsmen, and we have now we started working directly with chefs to develop highly usable tableware products by incorporating their feedback and experiences.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The current scale of the business is as follows: 1) More than 300 products available, 2) Over 30 restaurants, 3) Over 50 end-users, 4) Over 50 craftsmen and artisans, 5) Over 500 people participating in trial events.
- Tags
- Japanese traditional craft industry, Japanese tableware, subscription service, craftsmanship, Japanese craft, circular economy, sustainability, craftal
- Production Technology
- Craftal’s business model was designed to solve problems faced by both craftsmen who make tableware and the restaurants who use them. For craftsmen, it is difficult for them to sell expensive products, but it is difficult for them to expand their craft if they only make pieces that can be sold cheaply. For restauranteurs, buying a wide variety of tableware is expensive, especially because they have to rotate it seasonally to pair with changing dishes depending on the time of year.
- Design Challenge
- When Craftal was first launched, COVID-19 infections began to spread around the world in early 2020. Since our initial target, which consisted of restaurants that were negatively impacted by this, we had a difficult time promoting the service. Our response was to start a B2C service targeting individual households and we were able to increase awareness of the service this way. Also, we tried to appeal to a larger group of customers, and realised there was a need from restaurants specialising in Western cuisine, which we did not foresee as our initial focus on just Japanese restaurants.
- Research
- We conducted interviews with numerous hotels and restaurants and found that for restauranteurs, they wanted to purchase a wide variety of tableware to pair with seasonal menus, but there were three main barriers to this: 1) price, 2) storage, 3) opportunity cost (ie. time spent researching and purchasing).
Also, we learned that there are many levels of middlemen, which means that craftsmen cannot directly get feedback from the restauranteurs, affecting standards for product development. - Inspiration
- The Japanese traditional craft industry is facing problems such as declining sales, labor shortage, product development, and lack of ability to develop sales channels in each process from production to sales due to the division of labor.
On the other hand, although there is a need for restaurants to use traditional crafts, there are not many opportunities to purchase them because of the time and cost involved.
This service was created in the process of thinking of ways to solve such problems. - Project Duration
- The service was first established in June 2019 in Tokyo as a B2B platform connecting restauranteurs and craftsmen in Japan and is still continuing to this day.
Targeting individual households, the B2C service was launched in May 2020 to address people spending more time at home due to the spread of COVID-19 infection. - Operation Flow
- 1. Users select 30 tableware pieces from the physical gallery or online catalog. Specially tailor-fit selections based on consultations by a curator is also available.
2. Once inventory is confirmed at the distribution center, the tableware will be sent to the restaurant for an initial trial period of three months.
3. After three months, the customer will either exchange or return the tableware pieces, and those returned will undergo maintenance at the distribution center before being sent to use at another restaurant. - Team Members
- Producer: Takuya Hotta
Director: Hideya Izawa
Designer: Shugo Urata
Curator: Aki Yasuda
Planner: Takahiro Tsuchida
Planner: Yumi Takahashi
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