Tojiro Knife Gallery Osaka, Japan kitchenware district building interior, Japanese cutlery culture
9 January 2026
Design: Katata Yoshihito Design (L/O)
Location: Osaka, Japan
Photos by Masaaki Inoue
Tojiro Knife Gallery, Osaka, Japan
KATATA YOSHIHITO DESIGN (L/O), led by Japanese creative director Yoshihito Katata, has won a Dezeen Award 2025 for Tojiro Knife Gallery Osaka. The project was selected from over 4,300 entries submitted from more than 80 countries, and was recognised for its clarity of concept, craftsmanship-driven approach, and cultural depth.
Located in Osaka’s historic kitchenware district, Tojiro Knife Gallery Osaka reinterprets Japanese cutlery culture through a contemporary spatial language. The space combines a knife retail area with an open maintenance room, allowing visitors to observe sharpening and repair processes carried out by skilled craftsmen. This transparency reflects a Japanese culture of valuing tools, longevity, and sustainable use.
The project places particular emphasis on integrating 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 daily maintenance to complex repairs. By making these processes visible, the project communicates the brand’s philosophy of long-term use and care.
A key architectural feature is the reinterpretation of yoroi-bari, a traditional Japanese construction technique, as a knife display system. Knives appear to float on wooden panels, secured by concealed magnets and precise structural detailing that balances safety, functionality, and visual tension. The warm wooden interior contrasts with an armour-like stainless-steel facade, creating a continuous design language that clearly articulates the different functions of the space.
Rather than treating space as an end in itself, the design process began by identifying what the project needed to communicate. From this starting point, spatial structure, materiality, and user experience were developed in reverse. The result is a retail environment in which tradition and industry are structurally integrated, offering a contemporary expression of Japanese craftsmanship.
Tojiro Knife Gallery in Osaka, Japan – Building Information
Architects / Designers: Katata Yoshihito Design (L/O) – Yasuyuki Kitamura
Project name: Tojiro Knife Gallery Osaka
Location: Osaka, Japan
Completion: March 2024
Area: 40 sqm
Client: TOJIRO co., ltd.
Design: KATATA YOSHIHITO DESIGN (l/o)
Design cooperation and construction: c.e. management co., ltd.
Lighting design: KATATA YOSHIHITO DESIGN / sunwork co., ltd.
Furniture production: sunwork co., ltd.
Photography: Masaaki Inoue
About 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.
Photographer: Masaaki Inoue
Tojiro Knife Gallery, Osaka, Japan images / information received 090126
Location: Osaka, Kansai Region, island of Honshu, Japan, East Asia.
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