What should you put inside? Kurashiki Ishō's wooden boxes. Warm-hearted tools that value the spirit of craftsmanship.

Storage. Putting things inside something and keeping them there.

Originally, storage was meant for things not needed at the moment, so one might think anything would do as a container. And yet, we seek beauty and functionality even in storage boxes, finding joy in having them as part of our daily lives.

What we're introducing this time are the storage boxes from Kurashiki Ishō Keikakushitsu, which embody exactly this kind of beauty and functionality. Among all the products at ZUTTO, these wooden boxes from Kurashiki Ishō Keikakushitsu are among the most "favorited" by customers. There must be reasons why so many people have taken a liking to them and added them to their favorites. In search of these reasons, we'll introduce the brand once again and take a closer look at the uses and scenarios for each box.

Everyday tools from Kurashiki Ishō, worth passing down

First, let's introduce the brand. Kurashiki Ishō Keikakushitsu is a maker based in Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture. While ZUTTO mainly features their wooden boxes, as a brand they develop a wide range of items in collaboration with makers who craft using various Japanese materials.

What they all have in common is a deep respect for materials, refining the process of making and the texture that emerges from it into a distinctive character. Every item carries warmth, creating tools that inspire genuine attachment.

For their wooden storage boxes specifically, they use carefully selected woods such as nato, tamo (Japanese ash), and nara (Japanese oak). Assembling wood pieces into a box requires joinery, and by adopting the traditional woodworking technique known as "ishidatami-gumitsugi" (cobblestone joinery), they achieve strength without using nails, while also producing beautiful visual detail.

A wide variety: Kurashiki Ishō's wooden boxes

【 First Aid Box S 】

Every household surely keeps some everyday medicines on hand—bandages, headache pills, bug bite ointment, and the like. They might occupy a corner of a frequently used shelf, or a few drawers set aside for that purpose. Since these are mostly small, miscellaneous items, they tend to get jumbled together, which is why having a first aid box that can neatly hold all these medicines together comes in so handy.

The First Aid Box S has a deep main compartment along with a removable shallow tray. Drinks and boxed medicines fit in the deeper section, while the tray is perfect for frequently used items like bandages, nail clippers, and thermometers. Since there are no dividers inside, tubes can be stood upright in a small cup for storage. The underside of the lid even has a holder for tweezers or an ear pick—a thoughtful touch unique to a first aid box, and quite convenient.

The moments when you reach for a first aid box are often when you're not feeling well yourself, or when you're worried about a family member who's injured or has caught a cold. At times like these, if the box you pull the thermometer or medicine out of happens to be one you truly love, it might just ease your mind a little.

【 Small Handled Box 】

A small, round, lovable box. Sized to fit comfortably in a woman's two hands, its use isn't particularly limited. Precisely because it's so open-ended, it's exciting to think about what to put inside.

When we asked ZUTTO staff how they'd personally use it, the answers turned out to reflect each person's own individuality.

Staff Member S: For storing nail polish

Staff member S enjoys doing her own nails on weekends or during longer stretches of time off.

"I don't have that many bottles, but I never had a fixed spot for my nail polish before. When I tried putting them in this small box, it turned out to be a perfect fit. I think it can hold around ten smaller bottles," she says.

This would look nice simply set on a living room shelf, and since it has a handle, it seems easy to carry the whole collection around whenever needed.

Staff Member M: For storing foreign banknotes and coins

Staff member M loves to travel, and often takes trips abroad during long holidays. She had been struggling with where to keep the foreign currency she brought back but never spent.

"Coins can't be exchanged, and since I might travel again, I hold onto larger bills in US dollars or euros without converting them. But they'd get mixed in with other things in my drawer, and I worried about losing them. When I tried putting them in this small handled box, it turned out to be a surprisingly perfect match—it almost makes the money feel more valuable (laughs)."

And finally, someone else offered up a different idea for how to use it.

A staff member's daughter reportedly said, "I want to put my stickers in it!" and brought out her own collection.

For a child, a small box like this must surely look like a treasure chest. If you return to that childlike sense of wonder and think about what to put inside as if quietly hiding away your own treasures, you're sure to discover some delightful uses.

【 Cosmetics Box 】

Where do you do your makeup? Some people do it in the bathroom, others at a dressing table in their own room, and others still at the living room table—everyone seems to have their own spot.

Perhaps what these have in common is that both skincare goods, like lotions and milky lotions, and makeup items, like foundation and eyeshadow, tend to involve a lot of individual items in a wide range of sizes, making them difficult to keep organized.

If you had your own dedicated dresser, you might not have to worry so much about deciding what to keep or how to store it, but for the overwhelming majority of people thinking about how to fit things functionally into a compact home, it's a good idea to decide on a storage spot and set a rule like "only as much as fits in here."

The cosmetics box from Kurashiki Ishō Keikakushitsu is a tall, large-capacity type. Since it can hold both skincare items and makeup items together, you can wash your face in the morning, do your skincare routine, and move straight on to applying makeup without missing a beat.

Open the lid, and the main storage area is a free, undivided space. With a height of 15cm plus about 2.7cm of extra clearance inside the lid, it can even hold bottles just under 17cm tall. Even after fitting in a full lineup of essentials—lotion, milky lotion, cream, primer, foundation, and more—there's still plenty of room to spare. Place a small cup inside, and you can stand brushes and pens upright for storage, letting you arrange the space to suit whatever items you own.

The lower part of the box has a single drawer, which is perfect for palettes like eyeshadow and blush, as well as lip products.

The entire inside of the lid is a mirror, so once you place the cosmetics box on a table and open the lid, you can start getting ready right away. This particular cosmetics box is on the larger side, and once it's filled with your items it gets fairly heavy, so rather than moving it around every day, it's more practical to give it a permanent spot on a chest of drawers or a corner of your desk.

△A full list of the items placed in the cosmetics box.

Taking a fresh look at the wooden storage boxes from Kurashiki Ishō Keikakushitsu, it's clear that even though their sizes and uses differ, they share common ground in the wood used and the way they're made. So even if, say, a cosmetics box and a first-aid box ended up in the same space, they wouldn't look out of place—if anything, they'd bring a sense of unity to your interior.

That certain sense of calm reassurance and pleasant texture is one of the good things about wood, and being able to feel the functional, careful craftsmanship firsthand is one of the good things about Kurashiki Ishō Keikakushitsu. In other words, these are simply good items.

▼You can find Kurashiki Ishō Keikakushitsu items here