Message from the Founders

 

We two met in 2011, the year of the big earthquake in Tohoku. We immediately became friends through our shared passion for knitting, and started an online knitting magazine the following year. With the help and support of many people, we were able to become an independent business two years later.

What started as a hobby turned into a job, and what started with just two people turned into a company, and now we have more employees, but the process was very natural and organic. We do what we love, so we don't want to push ourselves too hard. Our number one goal is to keep ourselves, our customers, and our business partners happy, and to keep our business sustainable.

In the process, we'd like to spread the joy of handcrafting anything we use, the joy of cherishing it for a long time, and the idea of ​​"making it yourself instead of buying it", an idea that was a common sense just a few decades ago but is now disappearing. We hope to spread these not only in Japan but also to the world.

 

 

Our Backgrounds

Meri Tanaka
Born in Tokyo. After working as an editor for the architectural magazine A+U (Shinkenchikusha), an entrepreneur, a strategic consultant (currently at Strategy& under PwC), and a customer experience manager at AIG Japan Holdings, Meri rejoined a consulting firm in 2013 (which is currently a part of Korn Ferry Group). Co-founded amirisu co. in 2014.
Graduated from the Hitotsubashi University School of Law (Environmental Economics), the University of California, Davis (Environmental Design) on a master's scholarship, and the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Engineering (Urban Design/Environmental Regional Planning).

Tokuko Ochiai
Born in 1974 in Nagasaki Prefecture. After graduating from the University of Library and Information Science (currently the University of Tsukuba), she got married and moved around Shizuoka, Okinawa, Kanagawa, and Kansai due to her husband's job transfers. In her early 30s, she obtained an advanced knitting qualification and began working as a knitting instructor. Co-founded amirisu co. in 2014.

Continues to work as a freelance lecturer for the Japan Handicraft Association and other organizations. She is the author of "Fashionable Knitting Recipes from the World - Enjoy Knitting with English Patterns" (BNN Publishing).