Knife Sales with Live Maintenance, Expressing Japanese Values of Care, Longevity, and Craftsmanship through Contemporary Architecture

KATATA YOSHIHITO DESIGN (L/O), led by Japanese creative director Yoshihito Katata, has been awarded a Dezeen Award 2025 for Tojiro Knife Gallery Osaka, a retail project that rethinks how Japanese cutlery culture can be experienced in a contemporary urban setting. Selected from more than 4,300 entries across over 80 countries, the project was recognised for its conceptual clarity, material precision, and deep cultural grounding.

View from the entrance toward the gallery, highlighting the linear layout and timber-lined interior.
Photo credit: Masaaki Inoue

Wide interior view showing the knife display system and the gallery’s spatial rhythm.
Photo credit: Masaaki Inoue

Detail view of knives displayed on timber panels, referencing traditional Japanese construction logic.
Photo credit: Masaaki Inoue

Located in Osaka’s historic kitchenware district, the gallery combines a knife retail space with an open maintenance room, allowing visitors to observe sharpening and repair work performed by skilled craftsmen. Rather than concealing these processes, the design places them at the centre of the spatial experience, reflecting a Japanese ethos that values tools as long-term companions rather than disposable goods.

View through the entrance toward the maintenance room and gallery, making the sharpening process visible to visitors.
Photo credit: Masaaki Inoue

Close-up of knife sharpening in the open maintenance room.
Photo credit: Masaaki Inoue

Craftsman working at the sharpening machine in the maintenance room.
Photo credit: Masaaki Inoue

A defining aspect of the project is the integration of production and retail. The maintenance room is equipped with the same machines and tools used at Tojiro’s main factory in Tsubame-Sanjo, enabling everything from routine care to complex repairs. By making this infrastructure visible, the space communicates the brand’s philosophy of durability, responsibility, and sustained use.

Interior view of TOJIRO Knife Gallery Osaka, with the yoroi-bari-inspired wall display system for knives.
Photo credit: Masaaki Inoue

Central perspective of the gallery, showing the sequence of knife displays and ceiling structure.
Photo credit: Masaaki Inoue

Axial view of the retail space, with a central counter and knife displays integrated into the walls.
Photo credit: Masaaki Inoue

Architecturally, the gallery reinterprets yoroi-bari, a traditional Japanese construction technique, as a knife display system. Knives appear to float against wooden panels, held in place by concealed magnets and finely calibrated structural detailing that balances safety with visual tension. Inside, warm timber surfaces contrast with an armour-like stainless-steel facade, creating a coherent design language that clearly distinguishes the space’s functions.

Interior view emphasizing the continuous knife display and the long, narrow spatial proportion.
Photo credit: Masaaki Inoue

Exterior view of TOJIRO Knife Gallery Osaka, with the industrial façade and a direct view into the interior.
Photo credit: Masaaki Inoue

Front elevation view of the shopfront, contrasting the façade materiality with the warm timber interior.
Photo credit: Masaaki Inoue

Rather than treating architecture as an end in itself, the design process began by defining what the space needed to convey. From that premise, spatial organisation, material choices, and user experience were developed in reverse. The result is a retail environment in which tradition and industry are structurally intertwined, offering a contemporary expression of Japanese craftsmanship rooted in care, precision, and continuity.

Entrance view with the gallery visible beyond, connecting exterior and interior as a single sequence.
Photo credit: Masaaki Inoue

KATATA YOSHIHITO DESIGN (L/O)

KATATA YOSHIHITO DESIGN (L/O) is a multidisciplinary design studio based in Niigata, Japan, working across architecture, interior design, product design, and creative direction. The studio focuses on projects rooted in craftsmanship, industry, and local culture, translating complex ideas, techniques, and histories into clear spatial and experiential structures. Rather than designing form as an objective, the practice begins by identifying what a project must communicate and develops space, structure, and experience from that foundation.