Studio Ghibli Re-Releases Its Handcrafted My Neighbor Totoro Traditional Leather Wallet
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Official Studio Ghibli retailer Donguri Sora has restocked its one-of-a-kind My Neighbor Totoro wallet. Made in collaboration with traditional Japanese leathersmith Bunkoya Oozeki, the wallet hearkens back to the fantastical natural world depicted in the 1988 Ghibli classic.
The My Neighbor Totoro Bunkoya Oozeki all-around zipper wallet is a handcrafted piece whose roots can be traced back to Japan’s Taisho period. The 191 mm x 104 mm-long wallet features embossed iconography painstakingly molded and painted using traditional methods. Flora, such as tulips, cherries and bluebells, are represented alongside Totoro, Chibi Totoro and the Soot Sprites from Ghibli’s ode to a childhood summer in the Japanese countryside.
The craft’s origins are found in the city of Himeji, an area well-known as the home of Japan’s best-preserved feudal castle. Leathercrafter Bunkoya Oozeki highlights its founder’s time spent in Yokohama during the Taisho period (1912-1926), where he learned the local craft of Banshu Himeji. He eventually founded the brand in Sumida Ward, Tokyo. The process entails working with one piece of pure white Himeji leather at a time, which is embossed and painted by hand. Much like traditional Ukiyo-e woodblock prints, artisans use heated metal plates to emboss the virgin leather and later apply color by hand painting with specialty brushes. The last step is the antiquing process known as sabi-ire. Using Japanese lacquer and makomo wild rice derivatives, the leather is coated to give it a distinctive, aged look.
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