Press Release at Hiroshima Keizai Report!


“Hiroshima Keizai(Economic) Report” 2019/10/3

Kenji Shiromoto, President of Hiroshma Artist Brush Manufacturing Co., Ltd.

This year, the Hiroshima Artist Brush Manufacturing Co., Ltd. celebrates the 150th anniversary of its founding under its seventh generation of leadership. Today, the town of Kumano remains the foremost site in the country for producing calligraphy brushes, but as the popularity of calligraphy diminishes so does the demand for brushes. Instead, we’ve turned to producing makeup brushes, where there is a demand for a high-end alternative to low-cost alternatives, and which allows us to preserve the craft of brush-making by hand.

“As the domestic demand for brushes has been decreasing every year, we’ve responded by looking to Europe. As part of the Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries, we have exhibited at Ambiente, the world’s largest business-to-business trade fair for consumer goods held in Frankfurt, Germany, for five years in a row. The years of negotiations we’ve conducted over this time have led to a new partnership with a local beauty-goods firm, giving us a foothold in the European market.”

We look forward to working together to promote the “Ai brush”, our line of original make-up brushes, on the Continent.

"Our product that has gained the most attention this past year is our “baby brush”, a brush made from a newborn’s first haircut. The brush’s promotion in English-language social-media, a result of my past experience working in Wall Street investment banking, has boosted demand for these brushes on e-commerce websites.

"It is encouraging for us to share customers’ voices and requests directly with our brush craftsmen, and this spurs us to develop further products."

In addition, we have been sponsoring a shodō (calligraphy) contest in the “Shukan NY Seikatsu”, a Japanese-language newspaper in NYC; this contest is now in its 11th year. While it is not a large market, it is important for us to take care of every potential customer.

Our Fudehime (“princess brush”), a brush pen available in 12 colors, was launched last spring. It is sold for 200 yen (plus tax) each. "We want everyone to enjoy using a brush easily. This is good for mindfulness, and there is a demand for this overseas. On the occasion of our 150th anniversary, we will make a push to market our high-quality calligraphy brushes to overseas markets."

(Translated by our company.)