"Snow Peak Cafe" in the Land Station offers food and beverages with KINTO’s CERAMIC LAB and CAST. We asked Snow Peak why they chose KINTO.
Our relationship with KINTO started when we were preparing Restaurant Seppo in ”Snow Peak Land Station Hakuba" which also opened in 2020. Most people think of us as a camping gear manufacturer, but we actually own a few restaurants and cafes, too. Regular campers make up about 7 % of Japan’s population, so food and dining is our way of bringing what we call our ”nature-oriented life values” to the remaining 93%. For Restaurant Seppo, we chose KRONOS as our drinkware because we liked the minimalist yet playful design. They are also lovely to hold, the way they fit pleasantly in your hands. This feeling is similar to what we aspire to offer our customers at Snow Peak. So we naturally turned to KINTO when we were planning our Arashiyama cafe.
First, the location of our cafe. Kyoto is a city that is very respectful of traditional ideas of beauty, but also open to new expressions. Second, the architecture. The building is an old Japanese-style ryokan from the Taisho era (1912-1926), which we renovated and added some modern touches. With this in mind, we wanted to serve our customers with tableware like Mingei folk craft that celebrates the beauty of the materials it is made from, but with a modern twist. We liked the earthy texture of KINTO’s CERAMIC LAB that pays tribute to Japanese folk tradition as well as the high-quality craftsmanship. We selected plates with soft colors for the best presentation of our food and paired it with funky CAST double wall glasses that make drinks look like they are floating in mid-air.
They are well-built, sturdy and easy to handle. The designs and colors are deceptively simple, but the food never looks plain because the textures are so expressive. We love them because they make our food look appealing.