The beginning of SOLAHANPU (Designer's story)

Since I was a child, I loved to study the structure of things, make 3D crafts, and draw pictures, and I had a strong curiosity about "creating" something . At the same time, I was a bit of a playful person, and when I had an idea, I would immediately put it into action, so from my mid -teens , I had a strong desire to see other countries outside of Japan and broaden my horizons .

In 1999 , when I was 19 years old, I happened to come across a book in a secondhand bookstore and learned about the existence of the French Foreign Legion, a military force that anyone could join regardless of nationality. Even though I couldn't speak a foreign language , I had always wanted to learn about the world, broaden my horizons, have many adventures and experiences, and train myself physically and mentally . Although I had no overseas experience at the time, I decided to take this opportunity to go abroad. After that, I concentrated on saving money for about four months and finally flew to France. Later, I ended up failing the eyesight test , but my desire to continue seeing the world did not fade, so I began traveling around Europe, America, and Asia with nothing but the clothes on my back .

At first , I would return to Japan for a short time , work for a certain period of time, save up money, and then go abroad again, but I was eventually able to find work in other countries , and I started alternating between work and travel. I gained a variety of experiences, including fishing and camping in the wilderness of Alaska, spending my days in Germany eating only cheap bread to save money , teaching Japanese in Hong Kong , and nearly being robbed in Italy and the United States . I also learned English, Chinese, and a few other languages ​​in a hands-on way, interacting with local people wherever I went.

During the years I was traveling, I lived on a budget, so even when I had the money, I would stay in youth hostels (at that time, a multi-person room cost about 15-25 USD per night in Western countries ), and when I couldn't afford it, I often had to sleep outdoors. In these survival-like situations traveling around various countries, I , who had just turned 20, gradually acquired the awareness and skill to minimize my luggage, and I began to travel with just a small assault backpack and a wallet.

The reason why I had to carry such little luggage was because at the time I was tight financially and didn't know when or where I would be able to sleep, so it just came naturally that way because it would be difficult to move around with a lot of luggage and it would be difficult to keep track of your belongings and not lose them. Regarding wallets, some people say that it's better to carry valuables separately when traveling abroad, but in my case I chose to keep them all together, keeping my passport and all my belongings in my wallet and securing it with a wallet chain. In places where safety couldn't be guaranteed, I would even sleep with my wallet in my pocket, or in my trousers . - The less luggage you have, the easier it is to move around and keep it managed -I think this is consistent with the concept of decluttering. However, because I had very little luggage (too minimal) , I was questioned by the immigration bureau and asked " Are you a spy? " and was finally released after they confirmed that there was nothing wrong. As for places to stay, I also stayed at facilities (called shelters in the US) run by governments and various organizations for people who could not secure work or housing in each country. It's a memory that makes me laugh and cry now .

 

About 10 years passed and I was still living abroad. One day, I was suddenly informed that someone close to me might pass away. I returned to Japan immediately and was with him for the last few days of his life. At the same time as feeling sadness, I thought about what the meaning of life is in a limited life, and I felt a strong desire to actively challenge myself to do what I like and what I want to achieve . At that time, I was unable to find a wallet that I was satisfied with, so I decided to create a brand to sell products that I designed myself, combining the design ideas for wallets and bags that I had always had in mind. This became the prototype for SOLAHANPU .

However, I realized that it was not as easy as I thought when it came to actual production . At first, I made sketches and dimensional drawings of the product, selected materials and parts to be used, and searched for factories through the Internet and connections to make the product, but they requested thousands of units in lots, or refused to accept the request because it was unlikely to sell in the first place . Even at the factories that were willing to accept the request, the dimensions and shape were completely different from the specified ones, the specified materials and parts were changed without permission, the delivery date was extended as much as possible, and even when I saw the prototype that was somehow completed, it was completely different from what I had imagined, and I faced all kinds of problems. I repeated this process many times, but in the end, time just passed by, and it was about two years after the start that I was able to make my first product of a quality that could be sold to customers . However, various production problems were not solved after that, so I gradually shifted to making it myself .

I had never studied design professionally, but my original love of three-dimensional crafting and drawing came in handy. I also taught myself AutoCAD and other design software, as well as craft sewing and pattern making, by referring to what I saw in factories, and I acquired the skills to make prototypes and produce small quantities.

In 2016 , Tenuis , our first product in Japan, a slim wallet, was featured in well-known media such as Lifehacker, Gizmodo, and other media, and quickly became well-known. Later that same year, we participated in our first internet campaign to release the successor version, Tenuis2 , which received support from over 300 people and became a stepping stone to increasing our activities in Japan.

At that time, it was only me and a few craftsmen who produced the products , but the number of productions continued to increase over the next few years, so we looked for a partner factory, but we were unable to find one that could produce the products in Japan, and we once again moved the products to overseas factories. However, even if those overseas factories were well-behaved and made the products carefully during the prototype stage, when the actual production started, they ignored our requests and produced the products carelessly, used materials other than those specified, and no matter how much we asked, we continued to have no idea about the progress, and even though the contracted delivery date had completely passed, there was no response at all. No matter how much we tried to try and error, we felt our limits in terms of quality and delivery date, and after exhausting ourselves, we once again came to a strong realization that the quality and manufacturing system we were looking for had to be in Japan . In fact, we had been looking for a production factory in Japan since around 2010 , but because the production process of SOLAHANPU products is complicated, we were unable to find a place that met our technical and conditional requirements for a long time. I think there is a difference in what can and cannot be done, regardless of whether it is in Japan or overseas. However, after many twists and turns, we finally found a satisfactory factory in Japan in 2023 and re-established production in Japan.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who has supported SOLAHANPU over the past few years. I myself would like to continue my creative activities and to continue designing products that are both functional and beautiful. When we receive feedback from our customers, we will humbly accept it, reflect on ourselves, and work hard to make SOLAHANPU grow even more and be accepted by more people.