p.s. write soon!

Setouchi International Art Festival 2

2011-03-23T11:18:00.006+09:00

Konnichiwa, it's Maki from Osaka.
I wrote about "Setouchi International Art Festival" last month on this blog,
and I will write a little bit more about the festival.

The festival has some art projects, and one of my favorite projects is "Old house project".
You can find a lot of old houses which are decorated by artists in Setouchi area.

In Teshima island, I found an old unique house which a fisherman was used to live.

China plates are wrapped with colorful furoshiki (Japanese wrapping cloth).

I really loved this lamp, it's very Japanese style and washi is used as material.

Can you see the lovely patterns of washi paper?
I couldn't help taking a photo!

Although this old kitchen is not used for a long time, it has changed into the fun art.

Hope you can enjoy my photo :)

Maki

Setouchi International Art Festival in Japan

2011-02-08T20:49:00.007+09:00

Hello world! It's Maki from Winged Wheel Osaka :)

Although it's been so cold here, but is getting warmer little by little.

Last year in October, I visited Setouchi International Art Festival.

I used Shinkansen, train, bus, ferry, and special boat to go Setouchi area!

(It took 2 hours from Osaka.) But it was worth going...!

Setouchi has a lot of beautiful islands, and the event

was held in many areas around Setouchi.

Calm ocean and nature...

Setouchi is one of my favorite places to go trip.

I've visited there several times, but I was so overwhelmed

by the number of people. Soooo crowded!

I saw many foreign people as well.

(There are some famous architecture designed by Tadao Ando.)

The highlight of the festival is to visit 7 islands and a harbor.

You can see a lot of modern arts there.

The most fascinating place to me was Inushima Island.

There is a unique museum which used to be a 100-year-old copper making factory.

The chimney is about to collapse..!

Woo...LOVE this art, inspired by a spider's web :)

I will tell you more later!

Have a nice week!

Maki

Our unique and cozy factory

2010-10-30T11:54:00.003+09:00

Hi there! It's Rumi from Tokyo.
Hope you enjoy the lovely season :)

Since our parent company's headquarters and factory is in Osaka, I sometimes visit there.
It's always fun to go there to see some machines, and also I look forward to seeing our colleagues.
(Many thanks, Maki for your support!)

There are more than 50 special machines for our original cards and envelopes.

Although we have only 8 staff members in our Tokyo office, more than 120 people are working at the Osaka office/factory. So the enviromnet is so different from my office!

One of my favorite places in the factory is staff cafeteria. (food is yummy!) Also, I love the big painting there. Can you see?

In the painting, it says "connect the world!" And there are some international people at one big table, and having lunch together. It always makes me smile :)
Sometimes I have a coffee there looking at the picture. It is the most relaxing time.

(making scene of the painting) pretty big, right?

I will show you more about our factory next time.

Happy Halloween!!

New series! #710

2010-09-14T12:13:00.007+09:00

Have you checked our paper of the month club, September?

If not, please check it out :) paper of the month club

Now we are preparing to introduce our new series #710 as one of the standard series on our website. And we have introduced the series in advance in the paper of the month club(September) as limited assort pack version.

The theme of the series is "landscape." For this fun series, we have designed the unique landscape freely beyond time and space.

assorted pack of 6 cards and 6 envelopes ($15)

6 designs- snow mountain, dinosaurs, ocean, amusement park, city night view, moon landing
Which one is your favorite?

We have printed the designs with 2 color letterpress and 1 color offset printing on thick cotton paper (300gsm).

We accept orders by October 1, so don't miss this opportunity! :)

"House of Light" in Japan

2010-08-24T11:34:00.004+09:00

Hi world! I'm Maki from Osaka :)

Since I'd love to introduce some cool places in Japan, this time I will write about one of my favorite places, Echigo-Tumari.

Before the hot summer ends, I went to Echigo-Tumari, Niigata prefecture. (It takes about 3 hours by air plane and car from Osaka.)

The area is famous for contemporary arts, and there are about 200 kinds of arts in the area. One of my purposes was to see the famous art, "House of Light" by James Turrell.

"House of Light" is a beautiful house, which we can stay and can feel and touch the art directly. (It's the only art in the world, and I stayed there for one night! Yay!)

Inside the house, I spend fabulous time! By lying down on the Japanese tatami mat, and I saw amazing sunset. At night, as the rooftop windows open, lots of stars appear just in front of me.... (Woo, I wanted to stay more!!)

For other arts of James Turrell, there are some in Nao Shima (Nao Island) and The 21st century museum in Kanazawa.

I also found this fun art which was created by a Cameroonian artist. I love these cheerful colors!

Have a lovely week!

Maki from Osaka

Adorable personalized seals♥

2010-07-30T12:18:00.004+09:00

Have you checked our adorable personalized seals? They are limited items since they are introduced at our "personalized stationery of the month, July." Ending soon!

You can choose monogram or creature designs.
I personally love creature seals :) So lovely!

I am going to order ocean designs, which are fish, turtle and seahorse, and will print my name on them. Also, you can choose one color, turquoise or dark purple. (Hmm...both colors are so cute. I can't decide..!)

I'd love to use them for letters and gift wrapping!

We will soon update the new bespoke stationery of the month, so please don't forget to check it out in August. You can check the items here.

Have a nice weekend!

Rumi

Winged Wheel's new factory!!

2010-06-30T15:40:00.004+09:00

Our factory has moved to a new place in Osaka!
It's a brand new factory, and our 120 colleagues are working there.

I personally love the chimney of the building. (WW's logo!)

Entrance (Haguruma envelope is a name of our parent company.)

When you enter the door, many colorful envelopes will welcome you!

I will tell you more about our new factory soon!

Rumi

wallpaper* invitation

2010-05-29T16:40:00.006+09:00

The party was held at Baroni House in Milano.
My friends, Chiara and Lucio could send us a lot of photos about the party.
(I wanted to join!!)

Woo, it looks so gorgeous event...

So many luxurious hand-made items!

And...look! Our invitation was introduced at the party! Yay!!

We are so happy that wallpaper* chose us to make the luxurious invitation.

Grazie mille! to my friends, Chiara and Lucio, and Nishino-san who is a washi crafsman and could support our collaboration.

And, "arigatou" to everyone who love Winged Wheel :)

Lots of love,

Winged Wheel team

Winged Wheel x Wallpaper* magazine!

2010-04-28T09:53:00.005+09:00

Hi there, we would LOVE to share our exciting news with you!

We collaborate with the famous design magazine in the UK, "Wallpaper*"! Yay!
The wonderful project was to produce luxe invitations for their reception event at Milano Salone. Milano Salone is a famous design exhibition in Milan, Italy.

Ta-dah!

The theme of Wallpaper at the exhibition was "hand made", so for their invitation, we have selected 100% cotton paper which are made by a Japanese washi craftsman.
We also made fabulous envelope! The edge color of the envelope is painted by hand by our expert staff members.

After we shipped the paper and envelopes, the team of Wallpaper* could make the incredible invitations!! We love their design! (Especially, I love their embossing logo. Woo, so cool!)

The beautiful letterpress printing by Mr Smith's Letterpress Workshop, London

The reception was held on April 15 at the Brioni Palazzo, Milan.
Luckly, my Italian friends, Chiara and Lucio joined the event, so I will introduce some photos at the event next time!

Enjoy your lovely week :)

Rumi from Tokyo

Sakura, sakura☆

2010-04-16T10:36:00.004+09:00

Hello all, it's Maki from Osaka :)
How are you? It's a bit strange weather here. Still cold in spite of mid April...!

Have you ever heard the Japanese word, "sakura"? It means cherry blossoms, and is the symbolic flower in Japan. We enjoy the season of sakura in early spring.(From late March to early April). It's a typical Japanese custom, but people really love to have parties under/near the trees. (Me, too!)

Since it is mid April, the season is getting over...
(Woo, I'm already miss sakura!)
Anyway, I took a photo of sakura, Hope you can enjoy, too ;)

And, this is a photo from Rumi in Tokyo.
People are enjoying the parties. Sounds fun!

During the sakura season, we can see a lot of "sakura-pink" color all over the city. I saw many sakura themed show windows, and even foods such as sakura cake, cookies, and doughnuts at department stores. It is one of my favorite seasons.

Have a nice weekend!

Maki

DAILY CANDY!!

2010-04-16T10:02:00.004+09:00

Last month..it was a busy busy month since we had a lot of orders from foreign countries. (Thank you for all customers!)
We are so happy our cards are loved by many foreign people...!

One of the reasons we got so many orders is that the famous stylish website in the US, "DAILY CANDY" featured our new calling cards! Yes!! Please check our article here.

It is so interesting that the most popular design of the cards is "wisteria."

I personally love camellia, and it is the second popular design.
You can check the all designs here.

Many many Arigatou to you all!

Rumi

Our new cards, series 610 was featured on d*s!

2010-03-11T19:27:00.003+09:00

One of the famous design blogs, design*sponge introduced our new cards! Yay!!

You can read our article here.

We are so happy that we have so many inquiries from all over the world.
About series 610, please check here.

One more news, we have started Twitter, so please follow us♥
We are going to tweet about our items and also Japanese trends ;)

wingedwheel_jp

Domo Arigatou!

Rumi & Maki

Our new card, series 610

2010-03-02T17:06:00.003+09:00

Konnichiwa, world!
We are thrilled to introduce you our brand new series #610!

For the paper of the series, we held many tests for two years to produce the hand-made paper. And finally we produced the beautiful cotton paper.

As for the designs, we were inspired by vintage Japanese woodblock pictures in Meiji Era(1868-1912).
These are really subtle and graceful!
Hope you like them :)

You can learn some more stories here.

As for the series, we offer printing service for calling cards.
And, we have selected the beautiful color inks for each design.

So if you are looking for your calling cards, please don't forget to check out this lovely series, too ;)

Arigatou,

Have a nice day!

Rumi and Maki, (from Tokyo and Osaka)

Fun correspondence card, Zebra

2010-02-05T16:18:00.005+09:00

Hello world!
I love the Valentine's season since we can see a lot of
romantic store window displays here in Tokyo.

I made my new correspondence card using our series 602 design, zebra.
The design is letter pressed on cotton paper with hand borderd (gold edge).

I really love its grayish green design.

It's like a safari color :)

Also, I love to choose colorful envelopes for this zebra card.
Especially my favorite colors are brown and mint green envelopes!

We have started to "bespoke stationery of the month" service
in our Japanese language website.
(I ordered my zebra card from the service.)

You can check the image of the service in our website here.
February is adorable pig calling card! (Sorry it's only in Japanese...!)
We will also introduce the service in our English website soon!

Rumi, Tokyo

collaboration with letterpress 77

2010-01-22T15:28:00.004+09:00

We had a fun collaboration event at our Tokyo store last Monday.
The guest speaker was Mr.Kiyo Matsumoto, an owner of
letterpress 77, and he owns his studio in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Kiyo(right) and our boss, Masaki(left)

As you can imagine from the company name, Kiyo is an expert of letterpress,
at the same time, he is also a designer of his letterpressed items
such as calling cards, greeting cards and wedding invitations.

About 20 participants who are working as designers, printers, and retailers enjoyed his talk, and exchanged the design trends between Japan and Germany.

This is our collaboration card with letterpress 77.
Kiyo designed these adorable designs for us,
and we made the cards. Which is your favorite card?
For me, since they are all cute, it's hard to choose one! :)

You can check his lovely studio and designs here.

Have a lovely weekend!

Rumi

The 50 Best Stationery!!

2010-01-16T13:02:00.004+09:00

The famous British newspaper, The Independent introduced our products(series 342) as "the 50 best stationery"! Yay!

Although we have not read the real article yet, we were thrilled to see our items on their website!

We look forward to seeing it by newspaper :)

Now, we have many orders from the UK.
(Dear customers, Thank you so much for ordering our cards & envelopes!)

Please read the article here.

Also, if you are interested in the series 342, you can check here.

Have a nice weekend!

Rumi & Maki

Cheers! Happy New Year, 2010☆

2010-01-06T20:14:00.006+09:00

May this year be filled with peace, prosperity and good fortune!

One of the most traditional New Year's events in Japan is the custom of making visits to shrines or temples - this is known as "Hatsumoude."

Of course, I visited a shrine near to my home for praying my wish of 2010.
I really love the architecture, especially its bright red color.

Kanda Myojin is well known as "God of business" here in Tokyo, and it was pretty crowded!

I like the new year holidays in Tokyo since the period is the most quiet time.

Our stores in Tokyo and Osaka have already opened.
Staff members are looking forward to meeting many customers at the stores!

Rumi

2010, the year of the Tiger!

2009-12-28T17:47:00.004+09:00

In Japan, we have a custom to send new year cards to friends and acquaintances.
We call the cards, "Nengajyo."
The card is more popular than winter's greeting cards here in Japan.

Since it is a tiger's year in Chinese astrology,
we made some lovely tiger cards.
These were our best selling cards in December.

The design is letterpressed. It looks a real tiger?

They look a little bit weak...! But adorable!

Best wishes for the coming new year for you all!!

Rumi & Maki

Il Buon Tempo

2009-12-26T19:40:00.003+09:00

2009 is coming to a close, and 2010 is just around the corner!

One of our big events in 2009 was the collaboration with an Italian publishing company,
"Il Buon Tempo."

Il Buon Tempo is a small publisher which are owned by an Italian artist,
Mr. Lucio Passerini.
He uses traditional letter press machines and publishes simple and beautiful books.

Winged Wheel exhibited his 10 art books at our stores from October 30th to November 31st.
Also, we had a talk session event with Mr.Passerini at the opening reception on Oct. 30th.
I was thrilled to hear his art works and his philosophy.

I LOVE his book, which is called, "Alcuni aforismi."
There are very unique sayings/poems on the book.

It's hard to explain these in English, but my favorite saying is like this:
"I always loose my way, but always can find my way."

mi perdo continuamente e mi trovo dovunque.

Maki, from Osaka

Osaka! 2

2009-11-24T17:20:00.005+09:00

I would like to add 2 more photos from Osaka trip in last month.
During the business trip, of course I went to our store in Osaka.
Its store name is Winged Wheel Shinsaibashi.
Sinsaibashi is very modern and chic area in Osaka ;)

Inside the store, there are more than 1000 kinds of products specialized in cards, lettersheets, and envelopes. Customers can touch the texture of each product.

I was thrilled to watch the window display of the month because our colleagues are very creative. And they always make me surprize!
The theme is "autum night." How lovely!

Inside the store, my colleagues Maki and Yoko were chatting something.

Ah, maybe a small meeting? :)

They are in the product development division, and produce our lovely products.
Many thanks, girls!!

If you have a chance to visit Osaka, please stop by our store.
Here is our Osaka store information.
Winged Wheel Shinsaibashi (you can check our Tokyo store, too.)

Rumi, from Tokyo

Osaka!

2009-10-28T17:16:00.003+09:00

I had an opportunity to visit Osaka as a business trip.
It takes around 2.5 hours from Tokyo by Shinkansen. (do you know? It's a super fast train.)

Then, I took a train to Matsubara city where has our plant.
(It's located on the southern part of Osaka.)
There are more than 20 kinds of envelope making machines and printing machines.

This is a very old letter press machine!

Some of our expert staff can oparate the machine.

When I visited there, he was printing some luxurious invitaions for our collaboration event with an Italian publisher.
For the event, we chose hand made cotton paper by Fabriano, which is very famous paper making company in Italy.

Although itwas just one day trip, I was so glad that I could meet with many colleagues there.
(Many thanks, Maki!)

But, the only thing I forgot was to enjoy Osaka food...!!
I forgot to eat Okonomiyaki... Too bad!

Rumi, from Tokyo

Higanbana, Lycoris flower

2009-09-26T10:59:00.004+09:00

I found lycoris flowers on my way to the office.
Then, I realized that I had found them at the same place, just one year ago.
(Wow, one year ago! It's amazing how fast the time goes...!)

It's the season for this flower, lycoris (we say Higanbana) in Japan.
The vivid red color and their lovely petals like ribbons are so impressive.

Series #631 cards are very popular among foreign customers.
We selected Japanese flowers for the series and used traditional colors for each card. (You can find Lycoris design, too!)

I'm glad if you could feel "Japan" from the beautiful cards.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Maki, from Osaka

Autumn workshop in Omotesando

2009-09-07T11:31:00.009+09:00

This is our new window display in our Tokyo store.
It's so adorable, right? (The squirrel is holding a letter! And you can see his favorite food, acorn.)

We had a workshop in our store yesterday.
In the workshop, participants could make their own mini correspondence sheets.
This time, all participants were ladies :)

First of all, my colleague Masako talked about the history of paper and envelope.
Then she explained about some etiquette of social stationery.
Since all participants love paper and letters, they could listen carefully about Masako's talk.
(Thanks for your kind attention, ladies!)

After that, seeing our marks & fonts sample books, every guest chose their own mark and a font with favorite one color for her correspondence sheets.
Popular marks were flowers and animals. All guests were so creative so we can't wait to see their personalized sheets.
(We will give their correspondence sheets to them after 2 weeks from now.)

This was the first time to have a workshop in Tokyo store, and we will have it in November next time. The next theme will be about making new year cards!

Our workshop will be held in Japanese, but if you live in Osaka or Tokyo, and would like to join us, please contact us anytime!

Have a lovely week!

Rumi, from Tokyo

Summer's greetings from my island

2009-08-21T13:02:00.004+09:00

Hello everyone!
It's getting a little bit cooler day by day.
(I still want hot summer days!)

I went back to my hometown, Goto island during my summer vacation.
Everytime I visit my island, I go to Takahama beach, where is one of my favorite places.
It's really famous for water sports. (Surfing at the beach is awesome!)

I also enjoyed tasty seafood there :)
Although I couldn't stay only 5 days, I really enjoyed my vacation.

When I came back to Tokyo, I do feel that Tokyo time is soooo fast, compare to my island time. Haha!

Today, I wrote a letter to my friend. (The envelope is our series 342, stripes)
Of course, the theme is "blue ocean!"

Have a nice weekend!

Rumi, from Tokyo

Lots of hugs!

2009-08-11T15:24:00.007+09:00

Hello everyone! It's Maki from Osaka.

My hometown, Akashi locates on the seaside and it is very famous for good seafood.
Especially, squids and octopuses are special products.

I took a photo of a dried octopus. In this season, we can see a lot of dried octopuses around fisherman's villages.

I often use our octopus card of series 700, which reminds me of my hometown.
So, I really love octopus!

Although I know they have some negative meanings in some countries, it is said that they can hugs you a lot with love!

Octopus is a lucky and lovely charm for me.

We will have a summer vacation this week. (Yes!)

Have a fabulous week!

Akashi girl, Maki ;)

Summer's greetings card, Kuchinashi

2009-07-29T10:33:00.005+09:00

Since we will start to sell our new series #610 in August, we have just produced summer's greetings card using the same series.

The flower design of this card is gardenia, which we call "kuchinashi" in Japanese.
Don't you think the design look a little bit antique?

In fact, it is one of the vintage designs which was printed by woodblock printing in Meiji period (1868-1912) in Japan.

We were fascinated by the beauty of vintage designs during the period, and produced our new series.(Sorry, kuchinashi design is only for our summer's greetings card, not for sale. We look forward to introducing other pretty designs soon!)

Also, the card is hand made cotton paper produced by a Japanese artisan in Echizen area, where has a 1,000 year-paper-making history in Japan.

It is said that the flower, kuchinashi brings happiness and pleasure!

It's really hot(boiling!) here in Osaka, even though we are still in the rainy season..
During the summer vacation, I have a plan to visit Shikoku area (western Japan) to play in a river.
I'm a bit worried the weather, but I can't wait!

Please enjoy your lovely summer/winter season :)

Maki from Osaka

Tuesday night seminar

2009-07-21T15:50:00.003+09:00

Our representative, Mr. Sugiura had a seminar last Tuesday.
The main theme of the seminar was about "how to write a better business letter."
Since the seminar was for business people, he told about the manners of business letter and some useful information such as the history of typography and paper.

Although we have been studying about these histories for a long time, I had learned some new stories through the seminar. It seems the world of letter writing culture is very deep.
(I should study more...!)

We will start some fun workshops in Tokyo store from autumn.
We look forward to introducing the joy of letter ;)

Rumi

Tokyo Style 2009 by Visa card

2009-07-10T18:29:00.004+09:00

We are featured as one of design trendsetters in Tokyo by Visa card!

In their website, they introduce some unique stores in Tokyo.

You can check these chic stores here, Tokyo Style 2009.
They are all famous in Japan, and we are so happy that Visa could
choose us with them :)

If you have chance to visit Tokyo, check the Visa website
so that you can get some nice coupons.

Of course, please don't forget to visit Winged Wheel page, too.
Enjoy!

Rumi

July 7th, Tanabata Day!

2009-07-08T10:34:00.004+09:00

Hello world :)
It's getting hotter here in Tokyo.
Hot summer is just around the corner!

July 7th is "Tanabata day" in Japan.

We celebrate this day by writing wishes on tanzaku (pieces of paper like Origami), and hanging them on bamboo.
Especially, this event is for children so we can see some tanzaku in preschools and elementary schools.

I fond it at the preschool near my office.
There are some cute wishes:

"I want to be a good baseball player!"
"I want to be a Kamen Rider (a famous cartoon hero in Japan)."

What's your wish for your Tanabata Day??

I cannot choose one since I have many!
Have a wonderful week.

Rumi

Japanese stationery trend reports - wedding stationery

2009-06-30T15:27:00.008+09:00

The myth of "June bride" also has a magic power here in Japan.
Many brides want to have their weddings in June.
(The most popular wedding season is autumn, but spring is still popular.)

In our store area, Omotesando, there are some famous places for weddings, so we could see
many people (guests) for the weddings on the main street in June.

Now, many customers visit our Tokyo store to look for their wedding stationery for autumn weddings.
This time, let me introduce a little bit about the trends of wedding stationery in Japan.

As I wrote about the culture of "kamon" last time, every Japanese has their own family crest.
Recently, many couples use their family crests in their wedding stationery.

These are images of "kamon" wedding stationery.

(front -wedding invitation, back - reception program)

As you can see, there are two types of kamons on the cover, usually the right side is
groom's and left side is bride's.

One of the most popular printing/processing methods is letterpress (right one of the picture below) as well as Western trends. Also, foil stamping (center) and blind embossing (left) are popular.

Although most brides wear wedding dresses, almost of them also wear Japanese kimono.
I'm glad most Japanese women still love the beauty of traditional Japanese kimono. (I am crazy about the culture!)

I will write more about kimono next time.

Have a nice weekend!

Rumi, from Tokyo

Japanese family crest, "kamon"

2009-06-23T11:26:00.005+09:00

Hi everyone!
Although it's a rainy season here in Japan, it's a sunny day today. (Yes!)

Have you ever heard of Japanese family crest?
It is called, "kamon" in Japanese. ("ka" means family, and "mon" means crest)
Every Japanese family has their own kamon, and it is said that there are more than 5,000 kamons in Japan.
The most popular kamon motifs depict plants, animals, insects, and tools.
Since I am not a kamon expert, if you are interested in its story and history,
please check Wiki!

Of course, I have one! My family's kamon is "tachibana," it's a kind of flower.
At first, I thoutht my ancestors were farmers or something?? haha!
In fact, my kamon is very common, and its origin is coming from a famous clan of samurai class,Tachibana family.

Many samurai class people had plants related kamons.
For example, the famous Shogun family, Tokugawa clan has a flower crest, called “aoi,” which is a holly hock flower.
Since we love the elegant design, we produced aoi card in our series 510.
Yes, we were inspired by the Shogun family kamon.

By the way, it was a coincidence that my colleague Maki’s and my kamons were the same, "tachibana". Amazing!

Our kamons are not so bad, right? :)
We made seals with the tachibana crest.

Rumi from Tokyo

Workshop in Osaka

2009-06-16T17:32:00.005+09:00

Konnichiwa, world. It's Maki from Osaka, Japan.

Our store display in Osaka has changed. I love it!
I hope you love it, too.

Now, it’s a rainy season here in Japan.
Since we have humid and gloomy weather recently, it may be better to chill out at home.
Well, I guess it’s a lovely season to write a letter to someone, though. (That's a good idea!)

We will have a workshop on June 28th at Osaka store.
The theme is “personalized envelope.”
Participants can choose the paper type, ink color and the motif from our wide variety of design selections.
After that, I (as a product developer :) will coordinate and finish the designs for each envelope.
We print the patterns, and die cut into the envelope shape, which we call "diamond shape" as shown in the picture.

There are two ways to make your special envelope more creative. It looks different when you fold the motif pattern's side into inside or to outside. (like the image of the photo below)
Both ways look so fabulous.

By the way, the shape of the envelope without folding looks like a unique flat fish, "ray".
Don't you think so?
As I like its lovely shape, I decollated the "ray" envelopes at my room.

I look forward to the workshop.
Does anyone live in Osaka City??

Maki

National Stationery Show in NYC

2009-06-03T12:34:00.008+09:00

It was so exciting to see a lot of adorable cards at the show.
I love the 2009 version of the show logo. It's an envelope shape!

It was very interesting that most (well, let's say over 90%) of greeting cards were letter pressed.
Letter press is a very popular printing method in the US.

At the show, I personally felt that the key words of the trends in the US market are "green", "nature" and "fun".

I could find so many creative words in the company concepts using "Eco" such as "Eco-luxu", "Eco-chic"as well as "Eco-friendly" which is now one of very famous green words.
Yes, I agree with their thoughts.
We need "Eco" plus something fun or creative!

As for designs, I thought there were many nature related designs with pretty colors.
I could find some stylish but so funny message cards, which make me laugh!
Because of recession? American people need some fun jokes. Hmm...same as Japan.

By the way, the Exhibition center, Javits Center is located on the corner of West 34th street and 11th Avenue, and it is not so convenient from the main areas in Manhattan.
I bet most foreign visitors feel so.
Especially, when you go back to your hotel by taxi, I do recommend not to wait at the taxi stand,
or, you have to wait for a loooooong time. It is better to walk a few blocks to the downtown area,
and you can find a taxi.

Anyway, I look forward to visiting NYC again!

Rumi, from Tokyo

New York, New York!

2009-05-26T13:05:00.006+09:00

Since we had some meetings in NYC, I visited Big Apple!
This was the 4th visit, and every time I visit there,
I do feel the power of the city.
It's hard to explain, but I really like the lively people in
the city. Well, "Jaywalking" is a bit dangerous, though!

It was so exciting to see my best friend and colleague,
Cayce. She could join me from San Jose for the meetings.
(Thanks, Cayce!)

From May 17th to 20th, there was a big stationery exhibition,
called "National Stationery Show" in Javits Center(NYC).
I was thrilled to see a lot of the newest stationery
such as cards and pens.
(Let me introduce some trends later!)

The first day was cloudy and rained a little bit,
but the rest of my stay was sunny! Lucky :)
I took a photo of Empire State Building.
I love its cool Art Deco style!

Rumi

Kanda Matsuri (Festival) in Tokyo

2009-05-11T15:25:00.003+09:00

We had a very famous festival, called "Kanda Matsuri" here in Tokyo.
Since our head office is in Kanda area, I took some photos just in front of my office.
It was so cool!

As you can see, they wear the same uniforms and carry a "mikoshi",
portable shrine.
About 100 portable shrines gather for this festival, and
people parades through the streets of Tokyo.
If you are interested in this festival, I'm sure you can find some movies through the Internet like You Tube.

Japan has so many festivals in many places.

Since Winged Wheel's designs are very much inspired by Japanese ancient designs,
you can feel "Japan" from our cards and envelopes.

If you are kimono lovers, I recommend our series 510. (please check here.)

Have a nice week!

Rumi, from Tokyo

Our store area, Omotesando

2009-04-21T17:48:00.005+09:00

We had a staff meeting last Sunday morning.
After staff meetings, I usually stroll around our store area, Omotesando.

Omotesando is a hub of style and sophistication in Tokyo, and has many attractions such as luxurious shops, uniquely specialized boutiques and small galleries; all set along or just off a beautiful tree-lined main avenue.

Since it was a very sunny and comfy day on last Sunday, the main street was so crowded with many people than usual.

Tokyo has a lot of fun places, but please don't forget to visit Omotesando and our store ;)

After the staff meeting, I took a phot of our animal cards(series #602). It's like a zoo, right?
One of my favorite series!

Rumi from Tokyo

sakura, cherry blossoms!

2009-04-09T11:26:00.004+09:00

Hello world :)
This is Maki from Osaka, Japan.

Yesterday, I took some photos of cherry blossoms in the park.
The cherry blossoms at night was just beautiful..!
It was so crowded with many people, and they were having parties.

Japanese loves to have parties under the cherry blossoms in this season, and it is called, "Hanami."

I wish I could introduce much nicer photo to you, but this is the best one.
Of course, it's better to see actual ones, so if you have a chance to visit Japan, I recommend spring!

And enjoy Hanami party here in Osaka ;)

Maki

Adorable translucent envelopes, series 321

2009-03-24T19:45:00.008+09:00

Now, we can see a lot of cherry blossoms (sakura) here in Osaka.
It's so beautiful!

In Japan, we have a custom to have a party under the cherry blossoms
to enjoy the sakura season in mountains or in the parks.

Let us introduce our new series #321.
Have you ever seen such adorable envelopes?
For the paper, we use translucent paper, which make them unique.
We focus on the beauty of translucent colors and creature designs as patterns.
(There are 7 pretty pastel colors.)

In our Osaka store, pink (flamingo) and yellow green (pig) are popular.
What is your favorite? You can check all items here.

Have a nice week!

Maki, from Sunny Osaka

Our new messengers!

2009-03-19T13:01:00.008+09:00

It is getting warmer here in Tokyo.
The forecast says the cherry trees will bloom on this weekend.
I can't wait!

Finally, 2 new kinds of #700 series!
The series designs, which include motifs such as the octopus, ladybug, peach are our best selling cards in our shops.
We've just begun to sell our 2 new designs.

They are our new messengers :)
chameleon and tarsier (monkey)

Chameleon is famous for changing colors of its body for protection, but one of the purposes is to communicate with each other. (Lovely!!)
Now, he/she is trying to change colors from green to pink. What is he/she trying to say??

I don't know if the tarsier is popular in your country, but it is very popular monkey in Japan.
Because it has big eyes, we call it, "megane zaru, (glasses monkey)" in Japanese.
Look at its fingers! So "kawaii"(cute), right?

Have a great weekend!

Rumi, from Tokyo

Our new series, 510 - ume

2009-03-11T10:45:00.006+09:00

It is getting warmer here in Japan.
How is your contry?
We've just updated our brand new series # 510 on our online store. Yay!

The theme of this series is "Japan", and we used the vibrant colors for this series, which are usually not used in these traditional motifs.This contrast is so chic, and it is so Winged Wheel style ;)

In Japan, it is very common to celebrate the flower season in spring.
So, one of the series, the ume card is the best for this season.
"Ume" means plum in Japanese.

Recently, I wrote a letter to my friend using this card as a thank you note.
I love the color!

Speaking of ume (plum), we have traditional pickled food made from unripe green plums, called "ume-boshi."

If you have a chance to eat them, please be careful since it is super sour!!
In Japan, it is used in various dishes as side dishes with breakfast, rice balls for lunch, etc.

Enjoy the lovely spring!

Maki from Osaka

paperworld 2009 - diary 3

2009-03-11T09:51:00.002+09:00

At the show, there was a special display area, called "Trend Show."
The paperworld design team announces trends concept every year at the show, and they select some products from exhibitors.

The concepts of 2009/2010 is as below:
*Geometric
*Slow
*Delicate
*Power

And our series 602 was selected by the team as "Slow"!!
Each concept has a stylish booth, and it was amazing to see our elephant card and envelope in the "Slow" booth.
We are so happy that many people visited our booth by checking this trend show.

Paperworld was so wonderful experience for us :)

"Arigatou" to all!

Rumi from Tokyo

paperworld 2009 - diary 2

2009-02-28T09:08:00.002+09:00

For this exhibition, we produced about 100 new items, so we wanted to hear European people's feedback.

Many people from various European countries such as France, Germany, Italy, Greece had visited us. Also, we could talk with people from South America, Middle East and Africa!
(Again, thank you for finding us!)

In fact, we were a bit surprised that their preference is pretty similar to Japanese customers.
It's so wonderful they could understand Winged Wheel products concept.

"A blend of elements from both the traditional and contemporary Japanese arts!"

We would like to say "Arigatou"(Thank you!) to some customers who had already ordered our cards and envelopes.
It's so exciting that our cards are already sold in some chic stationery stores overseas :)
We feel awesome!

Rumi and Maki

paperworld 2009 - diary 1

2009-02-25T10:28:00.004+09:00

We exhibited to "paperworld", one of famous stationery show in the world from Jan 31 to Feb 3 in Frankfurt.

We were so overwhelmed by the exhibition center! Sooooooo HUGE!!
Actually, there are about 10 halls with 3 to 4 floors. Our booth was in Hall 6 (2nd floor), and it took about 10 minutes from the main entrance on foot.

Can you believe the numbers of exhibitors was over 2000? (Yes, it's true!)
Also, we are impressed by other exhibitors, especially famous companies had a big booth with amazing displays, with many staff members...

Although our place was really simple, it was our pleasure that many people could visit us.
We would love to say thank you to people who could find us.

(We were 1 of 2000 companies...!)

We produced almost 100 new products, and this was the first time to introduce them.
It was really wonderful that European people love Winged Wheel style stationery :)

I will introduce more about the show soon!

Rumi from Tokyo

paperworld, Frankfurt

2009-01-21T12:13:00.003+09:00

We are going to Germany from January 30th to February 7th!

We will exhibit in a stationery show called, "paperworld" in Frankfurt.
In fact, this is the first time to exhibit to the show,
so we are a bit worried, but at the same time, we are so thrilled!

Since the show is the biggest exhibition for stationery industry,
we look forward to introducing our brand new products to many people.

If you have a chance to visit the show, we would LOVE to meet you at our booth at
B30 in Hall 6.2.

See you in Frankfurt!

Rumi and Maki

Happy New Year 2009☆

2009-01-13T15:08:00.004+09:00

We hope this year would be full of joy and happiness for everybody!

Last week, we had a very slight snow here in Tokyo.
But, I guess we have a more mild winter than usual.
How's your country?

In our stores, many couples visit us.
They are looking for wedding stationery for their special day.
In Japan, the most popular season for wedding is spring.

We have a lot of wedding stationery, and have printing services
such as offset and letterpress.
In our stores, customers can feel and touch the texture of any cards they like.

Recently, many couples print their own family emblems
on the cover of their invitations and other wedding stationery.
(I think it's so cool!)

Let me tell you more about Japanese style wedding later.

Have a lovely day!

Rumi from Tokyo

Our smiley snowman card, winter 2008

2008-12-25T14:41:00.007+09:00

Hello everyone!
Let us introduce our new greeting card, winter version, 2008.
Their smiles are so adorable, aren’t they?

The snowman design is beautifully letter pressed onto our original cotton cards, which are made at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Japan.
We had sent these cards to clients, and we got many great feedbacks, which made us so happy :)

Our two stores open until December 29th and will open from January 4th, 2009.
It is our pleasure that so many Japanese and foreign people visited our stores this year.
We would love to say thank you to our customers, who visited our stores and online stores. And of course, many thanks to you, who are visiting our blog now!

If you find a minute to say “hi” or “konnichiwa”, feel free to leave comments or e-mail us anytime.

The display of December in Osaka store

Enjoy your holidays!

Rumi and Maki from Japan

Season's Greetings

2008-12-16T14:30:00.002+09:00

Hello all, I hope you are enjoying the sweet winter.
Tokyo is getting colder…
There is a myriad of twinkling Christmas lights creating a gorgeous atmosphere of romance around the oh-so-busy city!

Since we have a plan to exhibit in the stationery show in January (Frankfurt, Germany!),
we are extremely busy with the preparation.
Phew! No time to enjoy the Christmas lights. Haha.
But we don't care since this is the first time to join as an exhibitor, we are so thrilled with the big event :)

We would love to report the show in this blog in February.
Also, we are producing new products for the show, so let us introduce them to you soon.

Happy holidays to you all!

(Tokyo Tower)

Rumi

2009, the year of "moo!"

2008-11-26T17:46:00.002+09:00

Hello world, I hope you all are enjoying the lovely season.
Tokyo is getting colder, and we can see so many gorgeous and sweet Christmas lights around the city. So romantic!
It’s unbelievable that this year has only one more month...!

In Japan, 2009 is the year of ox (cow).
This custom is based on the traditional Chinese astrology. There are 12 animal symbols, which begin with the Rat, and continue to Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar (wild pig). (And then it starts again from the Rat.)
Now, it's the Rat year, so the next year is Ox.

We made these cute new year cards. The theme is (of course!) “mooooo!”

Also, these are other new year cards. (They are not related to the topic, though…)

I hope you like our cards :)

Have a powerful weekday!

Rumi from sunny Tokyo

Winged Wheel workshop

2008-11-08T17:11:00.002+09:00

Hi everyone, I hope you are all enjoying the lovely autumn.

We had a workshop last month in our Osaka store.
This time, our staff, Machiko introduced interesting stationery history (yes, it's fun!) and manners.

Have you ever seen or touched a real cotton flower?
Machiko brought it and explained the process of making the cotton paper.

At the workshop, all members made their own personalized mini cards using our cotton paper.
They selected a font, color and motif from our design book.
After 2 weeks later, they could pick up their cards at the store.
We are so happy that everyone really enjoyed our workshop!

Have a nice weekend!

Maki

Display of Tokyo store and holiday gift idea

2008-10-31T15:36:00.008+09:00

Hello everyone, today is Halloween!

Although we can see many Jack O' Lanterns, sweet & spooky decorations at stores or restaurants, it's too bad that the custom is not so popular here in Japan.
Do you celebrate the event in your country?

Well, our display of Tokyo store now is not a Halloween stuff, but it's so lovely.
I hope you can see it clearly...the theme is "brown x pink gifts"!

These days, we have some inquiries overseas for holiday gifts.Some of them are looking for personalized stationery to their loved ones.
I think it's a good idea, too!
This is our series 700, with a foil stamped name.
So lovely, right?

Happy Halloween :)

Rumi in Tokyo

New wrapping paper!

2008-10-18T10:52:00.004+09:00

Hello world! This is Rumi from Tokyo.

Check out our new wrapping paper!
These chic papers have just arrived from our plant.We chose Japanese washi paper, and designed "gold spiral" onto the paper.
Which one do you like better?

These wrapping papers are only avairable for Winged Wheel English website customers.
Although the gift wrapping service is not free ($2), I'm sure it makes your present look more gorgeours ;)

Since I personaly love Japanese washi paper, I am already addicted to them.
My favorite is green one. This color reminds me of green tea...with some sweets...(hm...yum!)

Staff correspondence cards collection

2008-10-09T17:27:00.004+09:00

All of Winged Wheel staff have own motifs or monograms.
Some of designs are drawn by hand.
We send letters to customers using these correspondence cards.

The theme of my motif is ocean.
Since I was born in a beautiful small island (in the southern area of
Japan), I used to play water sports there. I love surfing :)

I always write by fountain pen with blue black ink.
Also, I like to find some beautiful stamps in the post office.
When I write a letter to someone, I select the best stamp which really match
with her/his image.

A lost art, letter writing culture is pretty cool in this digital world, I
guess...!

Rumi from Tokyo

My calling cards - rabbit

2008-10-01T16:47:00.007+09:00

Hello everyone, this is Maki from Osaka.
This time, Iet me show you my brand-new calling cards.

I always bring two types of calling cards, one is for my business, and another is for my private use.

Since I wanted to make unique ones, this time I chose "rabbit" cards (#602 series), and printed by letter-press. In our stores, there are many cards for printing, and I selected pure cotton cards. So, my cards have unique, but elegant taste.
My favorite!

One of our customers ordered "camel"(#602 series) for her calling cards.
Since she always goes to business trips worldwide with a lot of luggage, the cards are really matching with her image.

Some foreign magazines introduced us!

2008-09-26T16:49:00.012+09:00

These days, we are soo soo happy since our stores and cards are featured by some foreign magazines such as Australia, UK, and China!

Do you know GQ (UK version), a famous men's fashion magazine?
We were thrilled that they selected us as one of "the best design stores in the world" in
October issue. Yay!

Also, Australian famous interior/design magazine, INSIDE OUT and
Chinese luxurious magazine SevenSeas introduced us as "must visit" store.

This is a cover of SevenSeas China. It is very interesting since
it is the first time to see our article in Mandarin.
We cannot read though...!
But we can guess from some Chinese characters, which Japanese also use.
On the cover, probably they say "A guide book of the gorgeous tour in Tokyo" Cool !

Very popular design blog in the U.S, "design*sponge" also introduced our new series,
#602 animal cards. Many thanks, Grace!

We believe "word-of-mouth" is very very important for us.
It would be great if you could introduce Winged Wheel to your friends :)

Arigatou!

Rumi & Maki

Winged Wheel's English website

2008-09-17T15:38:00.007+09:00

Finally, we have just opened our new website...!
So, we are very excited!

Of course, customers can purchase our items directly on the website.
If you have time, please visit the website.
http://www.winged-wheel.co.jp/en/index.html

In this online store, we introduced some of our standard series, and
their tastes are different each other.
We hope you can find your favorite one...

Enjoy!

Rumi and Maki

An idea for wedding thank you notes

2008-09-09T16:10:00.007+09:00

Today, we have a lovely sunny day here in Tokyo.
So comfy!

One of our popular cards is 631 series. As you can see from the picture, these cards have various colors with pretty flower designs.
We selected Japanese traditional colors for these.

Most of our customers like this series, and some of them make their personalized calling cards(casual business cards), thank you notes, etc.
Some couples use them as wedding invitations, too.
I think it's a cool idea!

By using this series, my close friend, Cayce ordered thank you notes for her two girls' friends in Florida and Texas, who are going to have wedding parties in September.
(September is very popular for a wedding season in Japan, too.)
As for the font of "Thank you," she selected an elegant script font, which is very matching with the pretty cards.
I'm so glad that these cards are popular among American people as well as Japanese.

Many thanks, Cayce!

Rumi

A little artwork of Winged Wheel

2008-08-29T16:26:00.006+09:00

Hi everyone! This is Maki from Osaka.

At Winged Wheel, you can see an unique "obget" at the show windows.
Now, we have a lovely display here in Osaka store.
The theme of this month is "honey comb." I love it!

Every store display is created by staff members seasonally, and the materials are all paper in our stores. People in the street often stop by at our show window, and see this cute work.
The impression of the obget changes between day and night.
I hope you like it too.

Enjoy the splendid autumn!

Maki

Hot Safari Cards!

2008-08-26T10:27:00.007+09:00

Hi all, please check out our hot cards, Safari series!
Don't you think they are sweet?

My favorite card is Leopard. Especially, her/his(?) eyes are so cool !
The size of these items is a little smaller than a post card, and it is beautifully letterpressed onto the cotton card.
There is a little room to write a short message on the animal printing side, but you can also write
a message on the backside, too.

This series is new in our stores, and is already getting popular.
If you are in Tokyo or Osaka, Please visit us!

Today, it is rainy and cool here in Tokyo.
It's still August, but it seems the autumn is just around the corner.

Hope you are well in your place.

Rumi

Our chic items, for stationery lovers!

2008-08-21T09:05:00.006+09:00

Hello world, I'm Rumi from Tokyo.
This time, I want to show you some of my favorite cards in my store.
I hope you like them!
Which designs do you like the best?

We have more than 1000 items in our stores.
There are some main series, we call "Winged Wheel standard series". They are very popular not only foreign customers, but Japanese people.

Last week, an American customer, who works as a fashion designer in Tokyo, visited our store with her sister. (She really loves our items, and visits us several times.) This time, she brought her sister, who were visiting Tokyo as vacation. I was glad that her sister also loved our items. It was really fun to chat with them!

Although it is hard to show you all items of our stores, but I will try to
introduce you some of them in this blog soon :)

Rumi

Have you ever been to Osaka?

2008-08-18T17:15:00.004+09:00

I hope you all are enjoying the hot summer.

(Maybe not so hot in your place?)
I am writing from Osaka, Japan.
Osaka is sooooo hot these days...!

My name is Maki, and my job is to creat/plan our Winged Wheel items.
We have a chic stationery store in Osaka, the second largest city in Japan.
Our store is in Shinsaibashi area, where is the hottest town in Osaka.
There are luxurious stores such as Louis Vuitton, Channel and Cartier,

but you can also find sassy boutiques and yummy Osakan foods in the town.

Winged Wheel Shinsaibashi(Osaka)

We are so happy that many foreign customers visit our stores by looking some guide books.
If you have a chance to visit Tokyo or Osaka, please stop by our stores.

Maki from Osaka

Hello from Tokyo and Osaka!

2008-08-08T17:07:00.013+09:00

Hi there, my name is Rumi.
I am working at a chic stationery store, called "Winged Wheel" in Tokyo.
I am a sales/PR staff of Winged Wheel.

We've just opened our blogger page! Yay!!
So, if you are interested in stationery/paper such as greeting cards, envelopes, and lettersheets...,
please check out our page at
http://www.winged-wheel.co.jp/en/index.html
Although we can only accept online orders in Japan at the moment, our online store will be open to all international customers in September!

Winged Wheel Omotesando(Tokyo)

Our items are all made in Japan, and are 100% our original.
Actually, we have two stores, one in Tokyo and one in Osaka.

In our stores, you can find more than 1000 items, so we would like to introduce many products to the world!

I will write with my colleague, Maki.
She lives in Osaka, and her job is to plan/create the Wigned Wheel products.Sometimes, she will tell you about the story of each item, and also the culture of Osaka, where is the exciting city as well as Tokyo.

Thank you for reading.

Have a lovely day :)

Rumi