Yokohama Canvas Bags: Promoting the port city of Yokohama to the present and future through bag manufacturing

Manufacturing
Creating things
Craftsman's Landscape

This issue's site
[Occupation] Bag craftsman
[Craftsman] Yokohama Canvas Bags, Yukio Suzuki
[Location] Bankokubashi Bridge, Yokohama

Carefully, slowly, and with thought.
A section introducing manufacturing sites that make use of handcrafted techniques.
This time, we will be introducing a special vinylon used on ships,
We are particular about domestic cotton canvas and materials, and Yokohama area code
The brand signature of "045"
We went to the familiar "Yokohama Canvas Bags".

Simple and functional things are beautiful. Yokohama Canvas Bags is the embodiment of that saying. They omit unnecessary decorations and are thoroughly particular about materials and parts. The main materials used are vinylon naval canvas used on ships of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and domestic cotton canvas, which has a history of successful exports overseas since the early Showa period. "I wanted to make a bag that is unlike any other, so I focused on materials unique to the port city of Yokohama. I want to deliver high-quality products with the ultimate outdoor specifications, rather than mass consumption," says Suzuki. The durable, high-quality materials, the easy-to-grip handles and other details that take the user's senses into consideration, and the design exudes a sense of aesthetics. Please try picking up a "Yokohama Original" at the shop next to the workshop at the foot of Bankokubashi Bridge.

Just a two-minute walk from Bashamichi Station on the Minatomirai Line, Yokohama Canvas Bags has its workshop at the foot of Bankokubashi Bridge, known as a great spot for the night view of Yokohama. Next to it is a shop that was renovated from the space that was previously used as a workshop.

Yukio Suzuki, who previously worked for an apparel company, decided in 2013 to "make things himself" and "make something that is unique to Yokohama," and founded Yokohama Canvas Bags. During his time working for the apparel company, Suzuki witnessed how one design was mass-produced in China and other places by the hundreds of thousands. When starting his own brand, he decided to focus on "making high-quality products that can be used for a long time, not mass consumption."

Upon entering the workshop, the main focus is the canvas fabric, and various items jump into view, including colorful threads, zip-ups and other parts, and sample bags. Despite being there first thing in the morning, Suzuki and the workshop staff were already working silently, cutting fabric and sewing.

Holes are drilled into the sturdy vinylon canvas and parts are attached to them. A bag is completed through a number of manual processes like this.

The photo below shows the process of chamfering the leather handles. A staff member at a store that sells Yokohama Canvas Bags told us that female customers had complained that the edges of the leather handles were rubbing against their hands, so we quickly made the necessary corrections. From that time on, we added another process of chamfering the edges of the handles.

From a work perspective, more can be made if the edges are not chamfered. However, Suzuki's idea of "making better products that satisfy the user" has led him to continue this chamfering work. "I'm very grateful that people voice their weaknesses. The good parts are obvious, so no one praises them (laughs), but I think that's fine." Suzuki, who says that Japanese people are good at coming up with new ways to improve things, said that he had finished chamfering 600 edges the day before the interview. There are two sides, so a total of 1,200 edges were chamfered... an extra step to make things better... and a lot of time is spent on that.

This is a press machine that uses heat of about 120 degrees to stamp the brand's signature "045" and other marks into the leather. This painstaking work is repeated over and over on each and every handle of the bags we use every day.

We also spoke about the materials that Yokohama Canvas Bags values. "When we started this brand, we wondered what is uniquely Yokohama. Yokohama is a port city, and it used to be home to shipyards. That's how we came across the two materials we currently use: Morino Ship Canvas and Takeyari Cotton Canvas."

The first "Morino Ship Canvas" is made by Morino Canvas Ship Equipment Co., Ltd., which was founded in Yokohama in 1914 (Taisho 3) as a ship equipment processing company that mainly produced canvas and ropes. It is Morino Canvas Ship Equipment Co., Ltd.'s original vinylon ship canvas No. 4, which is used on ships of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. The other "Takeyari Canvas" is made by Takeyari Co., Ltd., which was founded in 1888 (Meiji 21). Long ago, there was a company in Yokohama called Yokohama Canvas Co., Ltd., which turned its attention to overseas markets in the Showa era and successfully exported Japanese cotton canvas to Manchuria, China, Africa, Australia, and other countries around the world. High-quality Japanese cotton canvas was exported to the world from Yokohama...and the main canvas production factory involved was Takeyari Orimono Factory (now Takeyari Co., Ltd.) in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. (From the Yokohama Canvas Bags website "Material & Parts")

Among other things, there was one concern about using vinylon material. Although it is a material with excellent resistance to salt, flame retardancy, and even UV rays, is such a material really suitable for making bags? "Those properties are not necessary for an everyday bag. However, when we decided to create an original bag that is unique to Yokohama, we wanted to pursue the ultimate outdoor specs that are not found in everyday life, as expressed by the port city of Yokohama. So we decided to take the plunge and use this material," said Suzuki.

Currently, Suzuki-san is mainly involved in design and production, but she is also a skilled sewer. Using her foot on the pedal, she carefully sews strong materials.

"There are many ready-made canvas bags out there. But the products we make have a storyline called 'Yokohama Canvas.' We are confident in that identity, and we want our users to experience the comfort and joy of owning them... that's what we think of when we go to the workshop every day."

We also had a chance to see the shop next to the workshop. In light of the increasing number of foreign customers in Yokohama, a tourist destination, the interior decoration is not just about "Yokohama," but is more broadly defined to include an attempt to add a taste of "Japaneseness" throughout the store. For example, in front of the cash register is this noren curtain. The family crest-like mark is the brand signature "045 (045)."

There is a sewing machine next to the cash register, and while looking at the products in the store, you can get a glimpse into the Japanese manufacturing scene.

Furthermore, inside the store, there is a creative tea room of about 3 tatami mats called "Hawaian." Based on the concept of "NO BORDER," meaning a peaceful space for people to gather together, it is used not only for tea ceremonies, but also for exhibitions and sales of artists' works.

There will also be a wide variety of tote bags, body bags, and backpacks perfect for the upcoming season of outings and travel. In this location blessed with the sea breeze from Yokohama Port, we hope you will find the "Yokohama original" that suits you.