A Tea Shop in London: How Kyoto's Kaikado Went Abroad

The overseas journey of a hundred-year-old workshop began at a tea shop in London. Kaikado's story shows that for an artisan brand, if the first overseas channel is right, the next markets tend to open on their own.

What kind of brand is Kaikado?

Kaikado is a metalworks studio in Kyoto, founded in 1875, that makes hand-crafted tea canisters. According to Homo Faber's artisan profile, a single canister passes through 130 to 140 steps, and the lid is fitted by feel. The shape has barely changed in nearly 150 years. Takahiro Yagi, the sixth generation, has worked in the workshop since 2000.

Where was Kaikado's first overseas channel?

In a conversation with Premium Japan, Takahiro Yagi described how in 2005 he found the London tea shop Postcard Teas, which began selling Kaikado canisters. It was the brand's first sale overseas. The brand's channels then expanded gradually into more markets.

A tea shop was the right choice because of the usage context. Its customers already buy and store tea, so the canister needs no extra explanation. Its airtight seal and the feel of it are understood immediately.

What happened between the shelf and the museum?

Takahiro Yagi's work was selected by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2012, and by the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and Designmuseum Denmark in Copenhagen in 2014. The products were first used and recognized by consumers, and the brand's cultural weight became visible afterward.

When buyers bring in artisan brands, where do they go wrong?

A common mistake is equating "entering an overseas market" with "placing the product in as many channels as possible." Artisan producers have limited capacity, and their stories take time to explain. Placed in the wrong channel, a product quickly reads as an ordinary premium item.

The starting point is one question: in which channel will customers use this product directly? The answer shapes what the first channel should look like.

How to judge fit between product and channel, and how to build the right range and story, is the core of the ArsRes Academy Fashion Buying and Merchandising course.