Product development
A US-basedpen brand
Nobody had put this carve on this material before.
They wanted a specific carving technique and lacquering, on their own pen bodies. That world runs on closed contracts with no way in from outside, and the technical question underneath was genuinely open, because nobody knew whether the material would take the carve at all.
What we did
- Reached out to a group of artisans and found a handful willing to take on the challenge
- Got physical blanks into their hands to test, from carving through to lacquering
- Re-scoped when the first artisan withdrew, because the bodies were too small for his practice
- Found artisans who carve seals, where curved surfaces and small areas are the daily work
The craft
Hand carving and urushi lacquer. The withdrawal turned out to be the most useful thing that happened, because it told us this was not a job for a master of large-format work but for someone who carves small.
The outcome
Two design directions agreed with the artisans, the prototype carved and in the lacquer stage, and the production agreement in final approval.