In Hasami, Nagasaki — a town that has spent more than 400 years making porcelain for everyday life — Eisen began in 1935 with vessels for serving sake.

As the way people live has changed, Eisen has evolved with it, expanding from sake ware into tableware for the everyday home. Drawing on techniques long practiced in Hasami — hand painting, icchin slip decoration, copperplate transfer printing, and hotaru-de — Eisen works with traditional designs while continuing to explore new colors, forms, and ideas for contemporary life.

In 2001, one of its porcelain switch plates received the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award, showing how the craftsmanship and ideas developed through tableware can extend into other parts of everyday life.

At the heart of Eisen’s philosophy is something simple:

Good tableware should be easy to live with.

Something you naturally reach for every day. Something that makes food look inviting. Something that simply works well in daily life. Every detail of form and function is considered with that in mind.

One example is the Skit Shirutsugi, a soy sauce pourer registered as a design in 1983. Designed to reduce dripping and keep its lid securely in place, it has been made for more than 40 years.

There is also a bread plate designed to let excess steam and oil escape from toast and fried foods, and the Manten plate — a resting place for a ladle while cooking that doubles as a dish for tasting.

Each began with a small inconvenience — the kind you notice only through everyday use.

Eisen turns those small observations into thoughtful design, creating Hasami ware that makes daily life just a little better.