Takahiro Yagi on the perfection of a 150 year old craft

From a small atelier in Kyoto, a family have been chasing mastery of their craft for nearly 150 years. Slowly but surely, Kaikado are today renowned the world over for their ‘Chazutsu’ cylindrical tea caddies, which remain hand made and retain each of the 130 processes used in the manufacture since the company’s founding in 1875. Created with impeccable precision, a lid manufactured this year will silkily glide down to make an airtight seal on a caddy manufactured half a century prior. Caddies become heirlooms, and many return to the Kyoto atelier for repairs or adjustments after many years.