ALEXCIOUS

Nailed it? Certainly not!

Sure, the Kyosashimono Champagne Cooler is expensive, but hold it in your hands. Run your fingers over the lustrous 200+ year-old timber as you breathe its freshly cut aroma. Notice its lightness, its knotless straight grain and natural ivory-white finish. See how the oval shape gracefully flanges outwards towards the lip with all the elegance of a sailboat's wooden hull. Imagine it chilling your favorite bubbly as it sits within easy reach on your dining table, comfortably accommodating two bothles. It attracts admiring glances from your guests - Can they see the joints? It’s so beautifully crafted, they’re all but invisible! Tell your guests it represents the culmination of a thousand years of Japanese wood artisanship, created in the workshop of a Living National Treasure! Oh, and don’t forget to mention that not a single metal nail is used! An investment in taste, this piece of fine art is destined to become a family heirloom admired for generations - Let the champagne flow!

Understated style to chill the ultimate celebratory beverage

Whether Dom Perignon, Veuve Clicquot, Perrier-Jouët, Cristal, Moet, etc., a cooler is essential equipment for any lover of bubbly. The lightweight, naturally well-insulated and condensation resistant Kyosashimono Champagne Cooler keeps your bottle(s) chilled and ready.

The enjoyment of wood and wood grain is a universal human pleasure

Embodying the very essence of Japanese aesthetics and meticulous artistic craftsmanship, the elegant simplicity of the Champagne Cooler's graceful lines conceals a wealth of technical ingenuity refined over centuries.

The son of a Living National Treasure and gifted master artisan in his own right, Shuji Nakagawa developed this exquisite piece of art. Delighting in perfection and achieving perfect harmony, he uses carefully selected timber of the most highly prized variety of the 200+ year-old Japanese Cypress (Bishu Hinoki) tree. Naturally seasoned over many decades, it is ivory-white in color and has knotless perfectly straight grain. Nakagawas's use of meticulous joinery rather than metal nails, and the timber's lustrous natural finish characterize the allure of the Kyosashimono Champagne Cooler

Steeped in history

Japan is a land of deep forests, which provide a rich timber resource of both soft and hard woods. It is hardly surprising that so many woodworking techniques, crafts and disciplines evolved in the country, as wood in just about every form has, since ancient times, been almost synonymous with life itself

Kyosashimono dates back to the Heian period (794-1185). Specialist cabinet-makers, however, did not appear until the Muromachi period (1392-1573), when this form of joinery developed in step with the ceremonial drinking of tea.

A master craftsman among master craftsmen

Shuji Nakagawa is the third generation successor and proprietor of Nakagawa Woodcraft Studio. His father, Kiyotsugu Nakagawa, has been designated a Japanese Living National Treasure for his renowned woodworking skills.

The Bishu-Hinoki: Japnese Cypress

Hinoki, or Japanese Cypress, is one of Japan’s most traditional building materials. Its use in architecture is recorded in Japan’s oldest mythological book, the Kojiki (〜712 AD). Hinoki lumber is also considered an essential material in the construction of temples and shrines. Consequently, a vast majority of Japan’s most prestigious historical wooden buildings, such as Ise Jingu, the Ise Grand Shrine*1, are all built with hinoki.

Kiso Hinoki, which grows along the upper streams of the Kiso River, is recognized as the highest quality hinoki wood in Japan. Since some of the Kiso Hinoki forest areas were particularly well maintained by Owari Tokugawa*2, trees grown in these regions are referred to as Bishu Hinoki (bishu being an alternative name for owari).

To create our Champagne coolers, we only use the highest quality wood from carefully selected Bishu Hinoki trees that are more than 200 years old. Its gentle colors, fine grain and sensual texture affirm the superior quality of our products. Hinoki boasts a refreshing forest fragrance which also makes it suitable for aromatherapy.

1・Ise Grand Shrine : Amaterasu Omikami, Japan’s Sun Goddess, central divinity, and ancestral deity of the Imperial Family, is enshrined in Ise Grand Shrine’s Naiku (inner shrine). Every 20 years all the main structures of Ise Grand Shrine are completely renewed and rebuilt consuming a great deal of hinoki wood.
2・Owari Tokugawa : One of the top three families of the Tokugawa Shogunate (feudal military government) during the Edo period (1603-1867)

Perfect for both business & personal gifts

This product can be marked with a branding iron (+ 10,000JPY). For details, please feel free to contact us.