For this week's installment of In Their Permanent Collection, we caught up with Shinichiro Nakahara, the design visionary behind Tokyo-based design firm Landscape Products and San Francisco's Playmountain East.

Permanent Collection: Tell us, what's the one thing you most identify with your personal 'Permanent Collection'?

Shinichiro Nakahara: My stamp, made for me by my uncle from Kagoshima.

P.C.: Why did you select this piece?

S.N.: My uncle, who lives in Makurazaki, a town in Kagoshima Prefecture, has made traditional stamps and offered letterpress service for over 40 years. The stamp is made from local Satsuma Tsuge wood. When I visited his studio 20 years ago, I found his special wooden stamp for his granddaughter. In Japan, when women get married, she can choose her last name, but most women choose her husband’s family name. The stamp he made her has two faces, so he can add her new name when she marries in the future. When I started to work in interior design, I needed a stamp for my drawings. He made this two-sided stamp for me. It too is made from local Satsuma Tsuge wood.
 
P.C.: That's beautiful. Is there anything else about it that resonates for you?

S.N.: It’s common to need a stamp in Japan, for work and otherwise. It’s part of me.

P.C.: What are you currently working on?

S.N.: I'm designing the interior for the National Craft Museum in Japan, hopefully it will be completed before the Tokyo Olympics in 2020! The craftsman show will also be exhibited at Playmountain East in San Francisco.