“Why did we set out to make wooden products meant as gifts?”
Before answering that, let us begin with the spirit behind how KINARI makes things.
“We want to make something good, out of wood.”
Which, as KINARI sees it, means wanting to make something that can be used for a long time.
But trying to make something in wood that truly lasts runs into a wall you cannot go around.
The reality is that insisting on quality drives the cost up.
How Hinoki Cutting Board and Sakura Cutting Board are made
1. Once the rainy season has passed, hinoki and cherry felled between October and April, low in moisture, are selected.
2. From these we look for trees with little twist and few knots, large enough to yield the width of a board, and choose them.
3. From the log, only the straight-grained (masame) part is taken as a single board.
4. Air-dried for one year, then kiln-dried for two months. The oils stay in the wood while the moisture alone is drawn out slowly, over time.
5. The work goes to a shop with real machining skill.
6. And finally, the hands of an artisan finish it beautifully and with care.
The steps above are specific to KINARI's Hinoki Cutting Board and Sakura Cutting Board,
but going this far in pursuit of something good inevitably raises the cost.
The effort comes back in the price. Making things from wood is honest that way.
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“Wood is a natural material. Even within one species, quality is uneven.”
What matters here is that wood is a natural material.
Even within one species, quality varies with where a tree grew and the conditions it grew in.
The look of the grain, the density, the way moisture leaves the wood — all of it differs.
And choosing the material badly raises the risk that the wood will warp or crack.
It tends to get shrugged off as “well, that is just how wood is”,
but the difference between how it is chosen and how it is made shows plainly right there.
So KINARI works deliberately to build quality in from the choice of material onward.
How the log is sawn, quarter-sawing for straight grain among the rest; how drying is managed; how precisely it is machined.
These steps, hard to see from the outside, add up to a tool that resists warping and cracking for years to come.
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“But in practice, people rarely buy a good cutting board for themselves.”
Honestly, it is not often that someone buys a good cutting board
for their own use.
The importance of a cutting board is simply not widely recognized yet.
People choose a knife.
They choose their dishes.
But the cutting board gets settled with a “this will do”.
That mood is still strong, we think.
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“What KINARI is after is a tool that grows”
What KINARI wants to make is not merely a sturdy product.
A wooden piece you can keep using, that settles into your hand the more you use it, and that you grow attached to.
A little distant at first, perhaps,
but with use it settles into the hand. The color deepens. The character softens.
Along with the time you spend living, the tool grows.
That experience is what is good about wood.
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“We finally had something good. So how do we get it to people?”
After all that effort, we finally had something we could call complete.
How were we to get it into many hands?
The better it is, the more it costs.
But an expensive cutting board is not something people buy for themselves.
And the importance of a cutting board is not yet well enough known.
In the middle of all that, a thought struck us.
“Precisely because it is not something you buy for yourself, would it not be a joy to receive?”
As development went on, the last thing we agonized over was the form in which it should pass into someone's hands.
A little extravagant for yourself, but as a gift it gives you the push you need.
That the moment of receiving it brings genuine pleasure.
And that every use recalls the feeling of the person who gave it.
That, we decided, is what the packaging design is for.
To make it easy to choose as a gift for an occasion, we use a covered rigid box with real texture to it.
So that the weight and the feel in the hand say, before anything else, that this is a serious thing.
The belly band carries a mizuhiki motif, the knotted cord used on Japanese gifts.
The meanings held in that knot — celebrating, connecting, not coming undone — are expressed with a restraint that does not insist on itself.
And by building out our maintenance service, we want the piece to stay close to daily life for years, rather than ending at the moment it is given.
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“A gift of wood is a gift of the time ahead”
A gift is not only the moment it changes hands;
we believe its value grows through the time it is used.
Your hand reaches for it every day.
Time in the kitchen falls into order.
The more you use it, the deeper the color and the better it sits in the hand.
And before you know it, “I am glad I was given this” has piled up.
That is what KINARI's gifts of wood are aiming at.
Less giving an object than giving the life the other person is about to live.
Build in quality that lasts, carefully.
Then deliver it in a form worthy of the act of giving.
That is what KINARI means by a gift of wood.
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▼Details and stock for Hinoki Cutting Board and Sakura Cutting Board
can be found on the official site.
Hinoki Cutting Board product page here
Sakura Cutting Board product page here
▼ Occasions it suits
・Weddings: a practical, high-quality tool for everyday use in a new life together
・Housewarmings: at home in the kitchen, and a gift that lasts
・Birthdays: hard to buy for yourself, and all the more welcome to receive
・Gifts to parents: a fine everyday piece that stays close through the years ahead
・Return gifts (uchiiwai): a proper covered box that carries your thanks
▼ Why people choose it as a gift
A covered rigid box with real texture, and a belly band designed around a mizuhiki motif.
We wanted it to please on arrival and to look composed sitting in the kitchen.
And with our maintenance service, it stays with the days ahead rather than ending at the moment it is given.
▼ Related pages
・About the maintenance service
・How to care for it
Hinoki Cutting Board Sakura Cutting Board