About Shokunin
A Bay Area community rooted in craft, built on trust, and dedicated to the artisans and designers who make the city feel alive.
Core Values
We continue the ideas of apprenticeship and mastery of craft within a modern context of inclusivity, skill-building, and community effort.
Trust
Building genuine trust between artisans, clients, and designers — the foundation of every lasting collaboration.
Sharing
Sharing opportunities and knowledge so the challenges we face as individuals are faced together by all of us.
Mentorship
Guiding the next generation of artisans through apprenticeship, continuing a tradition of craft mastery.
Craft
Maintaining professionalism and deep dedication in the artistic process — honoring the work and those who make it.
Where Craft Finds Its Next Hands
We bring our mission to life across five interconnected pillars — each one a different way of making craft visible, transferable, and alive.
Community Building
Regular group gatherings create the relational foundation everything else depends on. When artisans, designers, and mentees know each other, collaboration becomes natural rather than transactional.
Monthly group meetingsHands-On Education
In-person workshops are the most direct expression of our mission. Each session immerses participants in a craft process — building a growing curriculum across disciplines like suminagashi, enameling, and weaving.
Workshop seriesArtisan–Designer Connection
Bridging two worlds that rarely meet on equal footing. Curated sample kits give designers a tactile introduction to an artisan's process — growing over time into a formal pairing and commission pipeline.
Artisan sample kits for designersPreservation & Documentation
Tacit knowledge — the kind that lives in hands, not textbooks — disappears when a tradition loses its practitioners. The Shokunin Studios podcast captures artisan voices, processes, and lineages as a living archive.
Shokunin Studios podcastInnovation & Evolution
Where artisan craft meets design application, new things get made. As Shokunin matures, we facilitate collaborative projects — limited editions, commissions, and eventually studio residencies that push craft into new contexts.
Collaborative projects & residenciesA Member's Journey
Join the Community
Connect at group meetings and events as an artisan, designer, or mentee.
Experience Craft
Attend a workshop or receive a sample kit — encounter the material directly.
Build Relationships
Get matched with collaborators across the artisan–designer spectrum.
Make Together
Co-create work that neither could produce alone — and share it with the world.