A woodworking craft that freely shapes the beech tree. BUNACO turns minimal resources into maximum charm.

Near the Shirakami-Sanchi mountains, home to a rare, UNESCO World Heritage-listed virgin beech forest. In the local Aomori area, artisans freely work with beech wood to create BUNACO's woodcraft, tracing spiral patterns as beautiful as tree rings. Each piece is carefully crafted by hand, making full use of this precious resource without waste. The shapes fit naturally in your hand the moment you pick them up. As we looked deeper into the story behind BUNACO—work so lustrous in texture you just want to keep touching it—we discovered qualities shared with ZUTTO itself, and came to understand the appeal of the brand beyond its products alone.

BUNACO's spiral pattern, as beautiful as tree rings

The origins of BUNACO

The beech tree gives BUNACO its name. Originally, beech was considered a "useless tree," fit only for railway ties or firewood, and was cut down in large quantities after the war. This was because, compared to the timber typically used for furniture, beech trunks hold a great deal of moisture and have excellent water retention, making them difficult to dry using conventional woodworking techniques. Wondering if there wasn't some way to make use of the beech being felled without purpose, researchers at the Aomori Prefectural Industrial Research Institute (now the Aomori Industrial Technology Research Center) began developing new techniques in the 1950s.

BUNACO's manufacturing method, breathing life into beech

It was in 1956 that a groundbreaking technique was invented to overcome the drawbacks of beech's high moisture content. By cutting the beech into thin tape-like strips and drying the wood thoroughly, it was found that the warping and cracking common to conventional woodwork could be avoided. Beech is also said to be hard, resilient, and highly resistant to bending. Bringing out the best of these qualities is the coil structure, extruded and formed from a flat shape into a three-dimensional one. It seems other types of wood besides beech were tried in the past, but none proved as suitable as beech for building this coil structure, in terms of toughness and hardness—making BUNACO's products a form that could only be achieved "because it's beech."

Step 1  Slicing the beech into thin boards

Using a method similar to peeling a daikon radish into a continuous ribbon, the beech is cut into thin boards (veneer) about 1mm thick and roughly 2m long. This allows the wood to be thoroughly dried at this stage, which is said to prevent the warping and cracking common to conventional woodwork.

Step 2  Cutting into tape

The thin boards made in Step 1 are cut into tape-like strips. The width varies depending on the product being made. At this stage, it's still hard to imagine how those graceful curves will eventually take shape.

Step 3  Winding

The tape is wound into a coil while being held in place by a nail fixed to the workbench. Applying just the right amount of tension—not too strong, not too weak—is extremely difficult, and since this step affects the final shape, it requires a skilled, experienced hand.

Step 4  Shaping

The flat, coiled sheet, now resembling a baumkuchen, is pushed and extruded outward to form a three-dimensional shape. The tool held in hand is a ceramic teacup. After trying various objects, this was found to work best for shaping. By pressing firmly and shifting the tape little by little, a wide variety of forms are created.

What's surprising is that this method uses less than one-tenth the material required by conventional carving methods. Indeed, in the process just described, there was no stage that produced large amounts of wood shavings, as carving methods typically do. Amid global challenges such as raw material shortages and rising prices—compounded by the pandemic and today's unstable world situation—BUNACO's manufacturing method can be said to make efficient use of this precious wood.

We also learned about a "new BUNACO initiative" aimed at further reducing waste.

By not selecting materials, individual variation becomes individual character.

With BUNACO, wondering what will arrive becomes part of the enjoyment—each piece's individual differences turning it into a special item that's uniquely your own. Next, we'll introduce the products ZUTTO carries, along with some ideas for how to use them.

How about this way of using it? BUNACO items that help you find a style all your own

A bowl that suits any table

These bowls, in a natural, understated beech-like color, come in two shapes: round and conical. The moment you pick one up, you'll notice its lustrous texture, with the coil rising from the base to the rim like a gradation. You can enjoy your meals while feeling the warm character typical of handmade woodcraft.

Bowl, Round (Large: #261, Medium: #262, Small: #263)

Bowl, Conical (Large: #264, Medium: #268, Small: #269)

With so many sizes and shapes to choose from, it can be hard to know where to start. So we asked the BUNACO staff for their recommended ways of using each piece.

Ease of use is something that varies from person to person. Because BUNACO's bowls have such a plain, simple design, the possibilities for how to use them seem endless. So we tried testing how the atmosphere changes when they're paired with Japanese versus Western tableware.

First, we paired the Bowl Cone Type (#269) with rice bowls, matching it with Japanese tableware. Alongside a keyaki (zelkova) meiboku bowl or a colorful Kutani ware kingfisher rectangular plate, the pieces sit together beautifully, each bringing out the character of the other without clashing. It's easy to imagine a pleasant morning meal of miso soup, grilled salmon, and umeboshi laid out this way. With its rustic texture, the bowl also seems like it would pair nicely with urushi (Japanese lacquer) tableware.

Next, we paired the Bowl Cone Type (#268) as a salad bowl with Western tableware. Think sleek, sophisticated Cutipol cutlery and classic plates with a beautifully glossy glaze. The clean, light tone of the beechwood pairs wonderfully with white ceramics, making it a great choice for entertaining guests over lunch.

As shown above, these pieces work wonderfully as tableware, of course, but the gentle, eye-catching grain of the beechwood also makes them well suited as baskets for storing snacks or vegetables somewhere visible from the living room, like a pantry or cupboard. It's an item that can find all sorts of uses around the kitchen.

A tissue box that suits any room

This tissue box has a cute, rounded oval cylinder shape. It discreetly conceals the tissue box while doubling as a charming little piece of decor.

BUNACO Tissue Box

It's very simple to use: just remove the round, perforated side panel and insert the tissue box. Inside the cylinder is a removable base plate. When you use the base plate, your fingers can reach all the way to the bottom of the tissue box, so even when the tissues sink down inside, you can pull out the remaining tissues without the hassle of taking the whole box out.

The tissue box we used this time was about 5.5 cm tall. If you're using the base plate, this seems to be about the maximum height that will fit in the tissue box. Without the base plate, we were able to fit a tissue box about 7 cm tall. Some premium moisturizing tissues come in boxes nearly 10 cm tall, so if the box is too large, you may need to take out just the tissue contents and set them inside.

Because of its oval shape, it may feel larger than a standard tissue box, but it can also be placed vertically, so it fit without any trouble on a small bedside table. The gentle texture of the beechwood adds a subtle touch of warmth to the room.

A letter holder that's good for more than just documents

This letter holder comes in a calm, understated color. Like the tissue box, its body is wrapped in a single sheet of beechwood veneer, letting you feel the texture of the material itself—it's an item that can bring order to a cluttered desk.

BUNACO Letter Holder Short

You can use it to hold incoming envelopes or notepads, but one thing the staff especially recommends is using it as a mask holder. Since store-bought non-woven masks come in different shapes depending on what you buy at the time, we were looking for something that could hold masks of any shape—and this holder can accommodate ones with a fair amount of width. Being able to store them upright rather than flat also means you can quickly grab one even when you're in a rush before heading out, which makes it especially handy.

Caring for your BUNACO pieces

With wooden products, it's natural to be cautious about care to avoid cracking or warping, but with BUNACO, it's very simple once you know the key points. Just note that the care method differs depending on the intended use, even among products made of the same beechwood.

【Caring for Tableware】

Applicable products (Bowl Round Type / Bowl Cone Type / Bowl Shallow Type / BUNACO Oval Tray)

【Caring for Non-Tableware Products】

Applicable products (BUNACO Tissue Box / BUNACO Pen Stand / BUNACO Letter Holder Short / BUNACO Pen Tray / BUNACO Dust Bin)

BUNACO and the Community It Nurtures

The last thing we'd like to introduce is the BUNACO factory located in Nishimeya, a small village in Aomori. This factory, it turns out, makes use of the former Nishimeya Elementary School building, which became vacant after school consolidation. Since ZUTTO also uses the gymnasium of a closed elementary school as a warehouse and the former staff room as an office, we were delighted to find this unexpected common thread. A school building that once watched over children as they grew up can remain a kind of spiritual home even after they've grown. Adding new value to such a local asset, and creating a place where people gather again and come to cherish it for years to come, seems to embody the spirit of BUNACO itself—a company that continues to make full, careful use of every part of the beech tree without waste. It only deepens our fascination with BUNACO's charm.

At the BUNACO Nishimeya factory, visitors can tour the production process and take part in BUNACO's hands-on workshop programs. The facility also includes a "BUNACO Café" and a "mini shop," both decorated with BUNACO products, allowing ordinary visitors to experience the craft of making firsthand. Having the chance to connect with the makers seems to deepen one's affection for the products and inspire a desire to use them with even greater care. In a small village in Aomori, makers and users inspire one another—this is BUNACO. We can't help but look forward to what kind of products will emerge from here next.

▼See the full lineup of BUNACO items here