About
More — to feel, and to be felt.
もっと、気持ちを伝え合いたい。
It began with a grandmother's hands
My grandmother was a tailor. With her hands, she held her family up. She taught me that every pattern woven into a kimono carries a meaning of its own — and that the deepest of them is also the simplest:
あなたが、お元気でありますように。
May you be well.
The beauty I received from her hands, I wanted to give a new shape — and place into someone else's. Silk in which one person once wished for another's happiness, re-knit by hand, stitch by stitch, the thread kept going. That is the thread KnitCafe still follows.
Curious what the patterns are wishing for? See the meanings woven in →
A second life for kimono
Every piece here was once a kimono or an obi — woven on a Japanese loom, worn to celebrations, then folded away and kept for years. We give that silk a second life: each cushion, each bag, each runner is cut and sewn by hand into something new. Because every cloth is one of a kind, the piece you find is the only one of its kind. Not a product you pick — a piece you meet.
Made by hand in Japan, sent with care across the world
Each piece is finished by hand here in Japan and wrapped to travel. Wherever you are, it can find its way to you — or to someone you would like to give it to.
Our upcycled kimono has also been shown beyond Japan — from Copenhagen to Vientiane. See where our work has traveled →
The hands behind KnitCafe
Kaori — an award-winning travel photographer who has spent her life encountering the unknown and bringing the feeling home. She is also a devoted student of Japan's traditional arts — its patterns, its words, the brushstrokes of calligraphy (書, shodō) — and that beauty is woven into the pieces here. The photography prints in this shop are hers.
1st Place, International Photography Awards 2019 (Travel / Wanderlust) · Bronze, PX3 Paris 2020.
KnitCafe is one harbor in a small world
Culture is often the doorway to a language — a pattern, a story, a conversation that leaves you wanting to know more. It is how Kaori came to study Japan's own culture and language, too. If something here has made you curious to learn, two doors are open:
Learn with Kaori — private lessons →
Cinema にほんご — free lessons →
Create and knit a life that feels just right for you — your way.
Love, Kaori
KnitCafe Inc.（KnitCafe合同会社）· Handmade in Japan