My passion (or obsession) with Taku-san’s bamboo basket started about three years ago, in one of those serendipitous encounters on Yakushima Island in Japan. After traveling for 24 hours (with a night at Haneda Airport in between to bridge the red-eye flight), our family arrived on the island that had the perfect end of the summer warmth (a nice way of saying hot and humid). To cheer my kids up, who were absolutely drowning in jet lag, my dad, who lives on Yakushima, treated us to Matcha soft serve to pick us up a little. At the ice cream cafe, the wall display featured local artisans’ work, including ceramics, jams, and bamboo baskets. I was IMMEDIATELY drawn to these bamboo baskets, without knowing anything about them. There was something about the meticulous patterns created by the weaving of neatly split bamboo - so beautiful and breathtaking.
It was love at first sight. After living and breathing with Baum-kuchen for 16 years, I have had a few moments like this with such knowing: an artifact speaking directly to me.
I didn’t purchase the basket on the day. It was our first day on the island, and I didn’t want to spend all my allowance just in case I saw something else while we were in Japan. Our stay was about two weeks, and no days went by without me thinking and talking about the bamboo basket I saw at the cafe on our first day. Towards the very end of our time in Yakushima, I was spending time with one of my dad’s acquaintances, who was more tied to the local community on the island. Somehow our conversation took us on a meandering path, and our dialogue landed on the basket I saw at the ice cream cafe. By the end of our chat, I learned that the person who made those baskets was her neighbor, and she was happy to share his contact info with me.
This was a day before we were leaving the island, and our time was limited. I went back and forth about calling him, wondering & worrying if it would be… weird and too forward?? But something must have nudged me enough on the day. I pulled together all my courage and inquired over the phone if I could purchase a basket from him. It turned out that everything totally ended up working out. He invited our family to his studio on our very last day on the island, and we met him and his family, immersing ourselves in a conversation about design, crafts, and how he came to create bamboo baskets.
What struck me in the very first conversation I had with Taku-san was that traditional bamboo basket weaving is a declining craft in Japan, and that he learned his skills from one of the few remaining schools that focus on bamboo crafts. A little over a decade ago, after years of competing worldwide as a professional BMX athlete, Taku-san decided to focus on bamboo as his life's work. He harvests and processes bamboo himself in Yakushima and appreciates bamboo as a material because it can always return to the soil, unlike other, more artificial material counterparts. And every part of bamboo basket-making is done by his hand, from sourcing/processing bamboo to finishing.
I was blown away. I already sensed that the bamboo baskets I saw at the cafe on our first day were unusually spirited. After hearing his story, it all made sense. I couldn’t help asking myself, “Do I have any functional artifact in my life that only a single person was involved in, from the material creation itself to the completion of an object?” Even with a 16-year-old job title as a shop curator, I have not come across anything like it. On the day, I became a home to his large market basket - the same egg-shaped basket I fell in love with at a cafe.
Ever since then, the basket and I have been to many adventures, including international trips, camping, farmer’s markets, and soccer practices. I have been using it in the real-world way, hauling heavy items and occasionally accidentally spilling drinks… while treasuring it and never losing sight of it, no matter where I’m at.
Fast forward two years, and our family had an opportunity to visit Yakushima again in the summer of 2025. Yet with another island serendipity, Taku-san happened to bring his two girls when Coco hosted a mini felting workshop for local kids at my dad’s cafe on the island (without knowing that we had met before). We were all blown away by the re-encounters and connections, and that’s when I figured the signs couldn’t be clearer and pulled all my courage (again) to ask if he might be able to make some special bamboo baskets for the Baum-kuchen community. Since then, I visited his studio one more time in March 2026 to connect and update on the production of the first order, and we were able to capture some photos of his making process and work-in-progress baskets. I am so thrilled to share that we will be offering his Tabletop Baskets in Small and Medium sizes: a smaller version of the Market Basket (like the one I am using, but a little more compact), and a specially designed Bamboo Tote with canvas handles at Baum-kuchen. Each bamboo basket that Taku-san and I decided to share at BK is unique and special, but I am really drawn to the Bamboo Tote because Frido and I were more involved in its design, and the combination of bamboo and canvas feels so fresh.
No matter how many years I have been involved with Baum-kuchen, I am humbled when we encounter artists and creatives who share the mutual vision and are open to sharing their creations through our store. Taku-san’s bamboo baskets are extra special because of the synchronous ways our relationship has come together over so many years and across the ocean, and also because they are from an island that is so incredibly dear to my soul. I am pinching my arm to remind myself that they are finally here!
As I promised Taku-san, I look forward to finding the perfect homes for his incredibly spirited bamboo baskets through Baum-kuchen.