BK Journal by Wakako

On rare occasions in our lives, we become keenly aware of past turning points, or even better, present turning points as we make “the” turn. It seems to me, right...

This might or might not be surprising to you, but I used to be in the spectrum of workaholics. Through design school years, working long hours late into the evening...

It is hard "not" to draw a living metaphor with the mending of a hundred-year-old house. When we purchased the house in May, we studied an inspection report from the...

I hope your summer months are going well. Ours has been interesting with full of twisty turns as we unearth our 100-year-old house. The unexpected changes of renovation plans can...

Earlier this year, our wise BK customer Tiffany shared an insight with me through an email exchange. She wrote, "2020 was a year that asked a lot of questions, and we’re hoping to live our way into some...

Hello from Baum-kuchen. I hope you are doing well. At BK, we are moving through the season of many changes, so I am here to share some updates with you.  First...

Greetings from BK studio! This month, Ame has decided to depart from Baum-kuchen onto her next adventure. Though, we will most certainly miss her at the studio, I would love...

It feels as if we have been on a life’s roller coaster these past few weeks. Within the same weekend, we picked up a key to our new (old) house...

I have been sharing some family updates on my Instagram about selling our home in Pasadena in February then purchasing our house in Topanga recently. Someone on Instagram asked how...

Greetings from already summer like Southern California. Today, I dug a patch of my mom's backyard I have been tending since last December. When our family moved in here, the...

When was the last time when you shared your personal stories with others? Friends, families, strangers? I ask because it is one powerful superpower we have within each of us, no matter...

Atalanta shooting on March 16th has left me with loaded feelings. Racism towards Asian community members has always been around but I personally started noticing more when I became fluent...

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about how we might greet the one-year mark since the pandemic started in March 2020. A few of my friends told me that they...

Lately, I have been earnestly thinking about my relationship with my phone. How frequently I am reaching out for it with or without awareness. Based on a few months of...

The idea of having a perfect Analogue System is perhaps a bit of dream chasing. I used to feel excited about imagining creative ways of using different planners. Like really...

Greetings from Orange County. How was your month of January? Ours had some highs and lows. The biggest milestone was being able to pass the torch of our house to...

Hello BK friends. Greetings from our family to you. We are settled into our current home at my parents' house in Orange County, including our chickens, who experienced their very second...

Good day and hello 2021! I hope the transition of the year has been peaceful for you and your loved ones. Our family's transition looked and felt so starkly different...

As some of you might know from my Instagram updates, our family is moving out of the Pasadena area, where we have lived for the last 11 years. When we...

Today, I am sharing my thoughts from our studio in Altadena. Since March, our team members have been taking rotating shifts at the studio to continue to ship and fulfill online orders while staying safe. I've been...

I am thrilled to share that we are celebrating the 1st birthday of the BK Jiyu planner. I have used Jiyu as my monthly and weekly planner/journal platform for the...

More than any other year, the conditions and challenges we faced this year have urged us to rethink the life we knew before. We have adjusted our habits and routines, including the way we...

Usually, the months of October, November, and December are an intense time for our family. We are constantly running around the city from one soccer game to another, figuring out...

We just received a parcel with a lot of new BK original tapes and sticker sheets. I can't wait to share them with you. And I can't tell you how...

Would you believe me if I told you that about a year ago, on a crisp October morning, I fell apart on a kitchen floor crying with tears that welled from...

This year is nothing short of new experiences, for sure. Usually, we invest our spring and summer breaks to visit our families in Japan and Germany. These trips are important...

At the beginning of September, we took a 5-night camping trip to the Zion/Bryce region in Utah when the weather unexpectedly turned from 90F daytime temperature to 30F at night with 40...

The original BK Grid Notebook was one of the first notebooks we produced at Baum-kuchen studio as an original notebook. From passionately talking to the BK community about our analogue experience, it was...

Are there colors that remind you of a childhood? I have a few and one of them is Azuki bean color. When I was growing up in Japan, my grandmother...

I hope your long weekend is starting off well. It's about to be very hot again here in Los Angeles!!! We will try to manage it by spending our time...

Our family just came back from a 4-nights camping trip up in northern California. We were there to live and sleep amongst Coastal Redwoods, one of the tallest trees in the...

At Baum-kuchen, August and September are beginning of the planner season. Usually, it's an exciting time for all of us at BK to start thinking of what each team member might...

The month of July felt distinctly different from the previous months for me. It was a kind of quiet turning point when I realized that this "situation" we are in is...

As we watched to the news of local schools shifting gears to all online education for the new school year, I thought of our homeschooling adventures. We have been homeschooling for a...

First and foremost, I would love to share my sincere "thank you" for being a part of our 10th-anniversary celebration during the month of June. Our team and I soaked...

We are delighted to share our third TSL x BK Brass Plate. This year, we have added “BK” and “WITH  YOU” to celebrate BK’s special birthday. Though it is small,...

The BK team has talked about creating a perfectly sized analogue tote for as many years as I can remember. The simple design of this tote will compliment your style...

The BK exclusive messenger bag has been a long-time design dream for Frido (like 5+ years?)! So when we were planning to design a bag that can be easily personalized...

We are so thrilled to share the launch of 10th-year anniversary artifacts with you! Since we are currently not able to showcase our beloved artifacts in person, our team has...

Happy Birthday Baum-kuchen! I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Wakako and Frido pre-Baum-kuchen and watched as they strategized, planned, and grew this magnificent company into what it is today. Even...

“Cake is Love” is the title of a song by a popular Japanese guitar duo named “Puffy”. I listened to their album when I was working in Japan in the...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Baum-kuchen! Even before meeting you in person, working with you was like working with a friend Wakako! ROTERFADEN and Baum-kuchen have a lot in common and we feel...

For this amazing occasion, I dug out my big box of journals and notebooks to see that in 2010 I actually started my first handwritten journal in a notebook. Being a...

JPT // Tomo  Dear Wakako and BK team, Congratulations on your 10th anniversary! It’s hard to believe that it was 10 years ago when Wakako-san drove from Pasadena to pick...

Happy birthday, Baum-kuchen and the team! The logo I designed is so memorable and is still one of my favorites. Although it was just around the time I finished school...

Congratulations on your 10 year anniversary.  Ten years ago, I remember feeling excited when I saw Wakako had started introducing Traveler’s Notebook as part of the BK lifestyle from Los...

TSL // Kawai-san Wakako, Frido, and BK team members, Congratulations on your 10th anniversary. Before meeting Baum-kuchen, the majority of my work evolved from the fashion industry. I can say...

It has been four years since Wakako first contacted us in 2016. I am so grateful that we are able to share atelier Penelope’s products through Baum-kuchen.  The BK original...

I can’t believe it has already been ten years! BK has not just been a great friend to 1.61 but also a motivator and driver for how our products are...

The 2019 BKxTSL Inspiration Lab was my first workshop, and the excitement of the event was such a wonderful experience. The skill that TSL shared and the creativity of our community...