okaeri

okaeri

Client: Yamachiku Co., Ltd.
Design Company: Katsuaki inc.
Creative Direction: Katsuaki Sato
Art Direction & Design: Takenori Sugimura
Package Design: Yoichi Yoshinaga
Country: Japan

In Japanese, the character chopsticks (箸) is spelled with bamboo (竹). The origin of Japanese chopsticks is made of bamboo. However, these chopsticks are disappearing from the dining table, now they are made of imported wood or plastic. We want to bring back the origin of Japanese chopsticks. Just like common phrases around the dining table: “I’m home”, “welcome back” or “let’s eat”, we want chopsticks to be a tool that gently snuggles up to you. For these reasons, we created “okaeri”. 

Simple bamboo chopsticks with red accent heads were common in Japan. But now, there is no company producing such design. We’ve been producing only bamboo chopsticks for nearly 56 years. Hence, we were able to bring back this design. The motif of the packaging is based on a Japanese fable, “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter” or more commonly known as, “The Tale of Princess Kaguya”. When you open the lid, the chopsticks are placed in the packaging just like Princess Kaguya was born. By changing the height of the packaging according to the length of the chopsticks, we were able to cut costs and offer a range of pricing for the whole family. We also looked into sustainability by using materials made of recycled paper and thinned wood. The two red circles together symbolizes “infinity” and expresses our continued passion to create bamboo chopsticks in Japan.