Photo= Trial products incorporating Nishijin-ori brocade and gold lacquerware promoted for its overseas expansion (Tsueya head office)

"Tsueya," in Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto, which runs stores specializing in walking canes and sticks, is planning to expand its business overseas. Starting from Singapore next spring, it also intends to open stores in Europe. It's aiming for global growth by selling high-value-added goods to the affluent in foreign countries. The items are produced with Kyoto's traditional techniques, such as "Kyo Makie," or gold-sprinkled lacquerware, "Nishijin-ori" brocade and so on.

The new store in Singapore will be opened in a commercial facility, teamed up with a local company. Previously, Tsueya has sold goods in some fairs abroad, but this will be its first time to establish a permanent store. It also aims to open stores within a few years in France, Germany, Italy, etc., where cane culture is rooted, to develop demand in the European market.

It will mainly provide an assortment of highly decorative sticks and canes overseas. In addition to goods embellished by Yutaro Shimode, a famous Kyoto lacquerware master, it will offer products made of Nishijin-ori brocade and cedar from Kitayama, Kyoto.

Tsueya opened its first store in Kyoto in 2006.

Currently Tsueya manages ten stores directly, located in Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo, all of which are performing well. It has been preparing this expansion for the past few years as it expects increasing demand in developed countries overseas with aging populations.

Yutaka Sakano, company president, said, "We would like to promote Kyoto's culture to the world through canes, hoping to enhance the reevaluation of traditional crafts and their succession."