CALIFORNIA KANSAI
About · Studio Saewa

We don't sell Japan. We sell extraordinary objects that happen to come from Japan.

Some things stay with us. A familiar texture. An object passed between generations. Something made with care, carried from one place to another.

Studio Saewa grew out of a connection to Japan, and a belief that the things we live with can mean more than what they do. We bring Japanese craftsmanship to California, along with the people, materials and traditions behind it.

Many of the makers we hope to work with don't have English websites, and most have never been asked to sell abroad. Finding them takes the language, an introduction, and going back. We are starting in Kansai, where Saya's mother grew up.

Saya's story

Between belonging and discovery
Three people smiling together beneath a cherry tree in full blossom, on a lawn in spring sunshine.
Cherry blossom season in Japan, with her parents.
Between two worlds

Saya Webb grew up in Los Angeles, the daughter of a Japanese mother from Osaka and a father from Aberdeen, South Dakota. Japanese was part of everyday life: she spoke it with her mother at home and went to Japanese school for nine years.

Saya as a young child in a red floral kimono for Shichi-Go-San, holding a chitose-ame candy bag and a small red purse.
Shichi-Go-San 七五三
A lifetime of returning

The family went back to Japan often, to see her grandmother, Baba, and the rest of the family. In Japan her mother led the way, through places she knew well and far beyond the usual itinerary. When Saya was around twelve, she stayed with her aunt and spent a week at a Japanese school. She learned to see the country through the people in it.

The next chapter

As an adult, Saya began bringing the people closest to her to Japan, and sharing the places, objects and small details her mother once showed her. Studio Saewa grew from that. It is for people who already love Japanese design and want to look a little further.

We would like you to come and look with us.

Where Studio Saewa comes from
A lifetime in the making.

What we do

One cycle, repeated with each maker
  1. 01Discover

    Find Japanese makers, beginning in Kansai, and build lasting relationships.

  2. 02Curate

    Choose a small number of exceptional objects.

  3. 03Document

    Record the people, places and processes behind them.

  4. 04Bring to California

    Introduce the objects, and their stories, in the U.S.

  5. 05Return insight

    Tell makers what sold, at what price, and why.

Where we are · Prelaunch

We are building our first maker relationships, our sourcing and our brand, and planning our first U.S. market tests. Nothing is for sale yet.

The studio

San Francisco · English and Japanese
Saya Webb CEO

Creative direction, design and curation.

CALIFORNIA KANSAI

If you make things in Japan, or carry them in California, we would like to hear from you.

Get in touch →