Notes from the studio
Blog
Practical essays on Japanese interior design — what clients get wrong, what Tokyo teaches, and how craft shows up in New England homes.
Design
What Sixteen Years in Tokyo Teach You About Small Spaces
David had spent decades studying Japanese — reading it, teaching it, living in its literature. When he asked Toshio to design his bedroom in a Boston condo, the request was exact: not Japanese-inspired. Japanese. One roo
July 9, 2026
Design
The Version of Japan That Is Already Yours
Sam spent his career absorbed in Japanese philosophy. He read the texts, practiced what he found in them, and traveled back to Japan often enough that the country lived in him more than where he'd grown up. When he retir
July 8, 2026
Design
The Building Shouldn't Defend Itself from the Street
Toshio arrived at a client's address and stood on the sidewalk, looking at the building. A restaurant. He couldn't find the entrance.
July 7, 2026
Design
Bamboo Fence Styles: A Craftsman's Guide to Japanese Garden Fencing
Most people who ask Toshio about a bamboo fence have already been to a hardware store. They've seen what's available: prefabricated rolls of split bamboo, stapled to a frame, sold by the linear foot. It keeps the neighbo
July 6, 2026
Design
The Genkan: Japan's Answer to the Chaotic American Entryway
A contractor once told a client of Toshio's that he built in 2×6 American framing — that was all he knew, all he was willing to do. The client wanted a Japanese home. They compromised: American framing throughout, except
July 5, 2026
Design
Japandi vs. Japanese Interior Design: A Tokyo Designer's Honest Take
There is a word that appears constantly in design media right now — japandi — and Toshio Abiko's reaction to it is more nuanced than you might expect.
July 4, 2026
Design
The Sunroom That Froze — and the Sheet of Paper That Fixed It
A client bought a house west of Route 495 specifically for the sunroom. It was the room that sold the house — bright, south-facing, surrounded by trees. He furnished it in the summer. By December it was unusable. The roo
July 3, 2026
Design
What Is Wabi-Sabi Interior Design? (Explained by Someone Who Grew Up With It)
Every few years, wabi-sabi makes its way into the design conversation in the West. It appears in magazine features, in collections from major retailers, in the names of candles and skincare lines. It is described, usuall
July 2, 2026
Design
"That's Not Zen": What Clients Get Wrong About Zen Interiors
A client came to Toshio with a photo he'd saved from a magazine. It was a bathroom — soaring ceiling, dramatic height, the kind of open volume that stops you mid-scroll. He was sure about it. This is the zen feeling I wa
July 1, 2026
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