The market for luxury product packaging hit $16.8bn (€15.11bn) last year and, though brands are trying to find more sustainable ways to pack their goods, most of it will end up in landfill. New York-based start-up Chowa wants to bring preciousness back to packaging. It supplies high-end brands, such as fashion house Drake’s and Dom Pérignon, with kiribako boxes, which are traditionally used in Japan to store kimonos and the implements used in a tea ceremony. Chowa’s pitch is that its boxes, which are made from a pale paulownia wood that naturally keeps the contents dry in humid climates, can be kept and reused for storage by customers, while also telling a story about handmade traditions.

“Kiribako have been used to package premium products in Japan for centuries,” says founder Ray Suzuki, who grew up between New York and Tokyo. “These boxes also have an afterlife; repurposing is a huge part of [Japanese] culture.”

Founded last year, Chowa has quickly built a healthy client base, in sectors from hospitality to retail, and has collaborations with clothing brands on the horizon. Suzuki works with a factory in Hiroshima prefecture to make every box and initially struggled to find a partner, as many historic workshops feared that their heritage product would be thrown away once it landed on US shelves. Gaining their trust, says Suzuki, is part of the business model. “I speak to the clients one by one on behalf of the artisans. As long as they understand the care that goes into the boxes, I’m OK working with anyone.”

Chowa’s office is in a high-rise in Tribeca, with paulownia walls and a shoji window looking over the city. In July, Chowa opened a shop in Bushwick, Brooklyn, a library-like space where the brand can tell customers about Japanese craft and aesthetics through materials and architectural details. Subdued light falls across raw wooden columns and floors lined with denim from fashion brand Engineered Garments, which was founded by Suzuki’s father. The space can be turned into a chashitsu (tea room) and there is a small door to the storage area so that those entering must bow reverentially to the wooden boxes within.

“A space has the power to speak directly to the emotions and these boxes have the same sort of energy,” says Suzuki. “I want to share a certain idea about what luxury packaging can be. Luxury itself is transitioning to be more conscientious. People care about the story behind how things are made.” Indeed, some boxes are for life and not just for Christmas.
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