The 8 Ball: Wakana Hase of palmehuset
After quitting their jobs at a printing company, Wakana Hase and Hisanori Takai traveled to Copenhagen to discover a glass greenhouse known as the Palmehuset in Danish. The greenhouse is about 150 years old and served as inspiration for the two to start their business, palmehuset. Both felt that the greenhouse remained a warm and sunny spot throughout the cold winters in Copenhagen. Their intention in starting their business was to nurture and “warm up” handcrafted printed materials, handwritten letters that arrive slowly, and nostalgic feelings. Palmehuset started in July 2021 and is run by Wakana Hase and Hisanori Takai.
Please tell us about the meaning behind the name of your company, palmehuset.
The Danish word for greenhouse (palm house) is "Palmehuset". A greenhouse is a place to grow and appreciate plants that cannot be grown in that environment. It is a place where we can feel "human-like activities.” We have "human uniqueness" as one of the creation themes.
You’ve just started palmehuset with your partner in July of this year! What are you both excited about or looking forward to as a new company?
We enjoy every step of the process; how to express our ideas, how to print them, and how to present them. We are also looking forward to finding out how people around the world feel and interpret what we express.
Tell us about your illustrated calendars for 2022. We’re so excited to have them at Covet + Lou!
We like horoscopes, so we added a horoscope sign for each month to the calendar. It also has the phases of the moon printed on it. This is so that we can refer to it when we are farming.
The calendar is in the shape of a small card. Each calendar is made from a combination of stamps. Printing is done using a human printing press. When stamping, it may be slightly distorted or the ink may be faint. Every printed piece will be a little different.
Tell us about you & your partner's professional backgrounds. Are you both based in design?
We both worked for the same printing company. I worked in the graphic design department and my partner, Hisanori Takai, worked in the printing processing department. Originally, both of us really love printing.
What are you and your partner up to when you’re not working?
We take so many walks and adventures around our house. We also read books, play with the cats, watch movies on rare occasions, and talk about all kinds of things. Sometimes we go to a small field. A few vegetables and herbs are growing there.
Do you have any favorite artists or designers that you love?
Our favorite artists:
Henryk Tomaszewski
Erik Satie
Pina Bausch
Roman Polanski
Toko Shinoda
Tell us about being a creative in Japan. What has your experience looked like as creatives starting a business?
We find it very difficult to promote our products. We realized that the concept of "creating" and "selling" are completely different. We are not entrepreneurs, so our business started very small and we are still in the process of trial and error.
Does palmehuset have any core beliefs or is there something you wish to convey through your company?
We try to determine the appropriate amount and appropriate condition of everything. We believe that true beauty resides in appropriateness.
