COLLECTOR & CURATOR

In 2018, I founded Relier81, an upcycling brand dedicated to reconstructing unused kimono and obi sourced from across Japan, transforming materials once left dormant into objects with renewed value.

Through this work, I was given the opportunity to engage deeply with Japan’s long-inherited traditions, craftsmanship, and the profound aestheticsensibilities embedded within its culture.

Within the brand, I developed products inspired by antique Japanese tools and everyday objects.
During this creative process, I found myself particularly drawn to the structural beauty of old Japanese FUMIDAI — traditional wooden step stools — and began collecting them in 2021.

In 2022, I released the FUMIDAI BAG, a product whose design was directly inspired by the structural form and construction of the fumidai I had been collecting.

As I continued this practice of collecting, I gradually came to realize that fumidai is far more than a simple household tool.

It represents the essence of Japanese daily life, the anonymous craftsmanship of ordinary makers, and a quiet aesthetic sensibility deeply rooted within everyday existence itself.

Within the Japanese Mingei movement, there exists the philosophy of Yo no Bi — “the beauty of utility.”

It is the belief that true beauty resides not in objects created for admiration, but in humble things made by anonymous craftsmen and used naturally within daily life.

This philosophy resonates deeply with me.

In a contemporary world increasingly shaped by mass production, rapid consumption, and a culture that often prioritizes authorship, rarity, and individual recognition as measures of value, I believe there remains something profoundly important within objects like FUMIDAI.

These are objects whose makers remain unknown, whose names were never recorded, and yet which quietly supported the lives of countless people for generations.

I believe it is within such objects that we may rediscover values modern society has gradually forgotten.

At the same time, the philosophy of Mingei is something I feel deeply connected to through my own upbringing and personal life experiences.

Today, while continuing to document the FUMIDAI I have collected since 2021, I work as Japan’s first dedicated FUMIDAI collector, researching and sharing insights into their history, regional characteristics, relationship to Mingei, and the traditional Japanese sense of beauty embedded within them.

To interpret the deeper philosophies underlying Japanese culture through something as anonymous and ordinary as a FUMIDAI —

that is the foundation of my work today.

DAICHI TAJIRI

Born and based in Kyoto, Japan
Founder of Relier81 / FUMIDAI Collector & Curator / Culturepreneur

BIOGRAPHY

 2018

 Founded Relier81

 2023

 Selected for Forbes JAPAN CULTURE-PRENEURS 30
 Featured in an interview article by Forbes JAPAN
 Featured on TV Asahi — Mirai ni Tsunagu Yell

 2024

 Exited Relier81 through M&A

 2026

 Featured on NHK WORLD-JAPAN — Zero Waste Life

古物商許可番号
京都府公安委員会 第611262630016号

Copyright © FUMIDAI KYOTO. All Rights Reserved.

COLLECTOR & CURATOR

In 2018, I founded Relier81, an upcycling brand dedicated to reconstructing unused kimono and obi sourced from across Japan, transforming materials once left dormant into objects with renewed value.

Through this work, I was given the opportunity to engage deeply with Japan’s long-inherited traditions, craftsmanship, and the profound aestheticsensibilities embedded within its culture.

Within the brand, I developed products inspired by antique Japanese tools and everyday objects.
During this creative process, I found myself particularly drawn to the structural beauty of old Japanese FUMIDAI — traditional wooden step stools — and began collecting them in 2021.

In 2022, I released the FUMIDAI BAG, a product whose design was directly inspired by the structural form and construction of the fumidai I had been collecting.

As I continued this practice of collecting, I gradually came to realize that fumidai is far more than a simple household tool.

It represents the essence of Japanese daily life, the anonymous craftsmanship of ordinary makers, and a quiet aesthetic sensibility deeply rooted within everyday existence itself.

Within the Japanese Mingei movement, there exists the philosophy of Yo no Bi — “the beauty of utility.”

It is the belief that true beauty resides not in objects created for admiration, but in humble things made by anonymous craftsmen and used naturally within daily life.

This philosophy resonates deeply with me.

In a contemporary world increasingly shaped by mass production, rapid consumption, and a culture that often prioritizes authorship, rarity, and individual recognition as measures of value, I believe there remains something profoundly important within objects like FUMIDAI.

These are objects whose makers remain unknown, whose names were never recorded, and yet which quietly supported the lives of countless people for generations.

I believe it is within such objects that we may rediscover values modern society has gradually forgotten.

At the same time, the philosophy of Mingei is something I feel deeply connected to through my own upbringing and personal life experiences.

Today, while continuing to document the FUMIDAI I have collected since 2021, I work as Japan’s first dedicated FUMIDAI collector, researching and sharing insights into their history, regional characteristics, relationship to Mingei, and the traditional Japanese sense of beauty embedded within them.

To interpret the deeper philosophies underlying Japanese culture through something as anonymous and ordinary as a FUMIDAI —

that is the foundation of my work today.