OKURADO ‘s MISSION

This year, 2024, marks 15 years since we launched OKURADO.

The launch of the brand began with a few small ideas, such as “It would be beautiful to create this kind of jewelry,” or “It would be interesting to create jewelry by combining this gemstone and that gemstone.　(I will write more about the process of launching the brand at another time.) I had no idea of the brand’s target audience, price range, or brand colors, and I did not even do any market research.

We started the business with only our knowledge and aesthetic sense that we have cultivated over 15 years in the jewelry industry, and with the belief that if we use gemstones that we think are beautiful, create designs that we think are beautiful, and create them in our own workshop, someone somewhere will surely find them.

Several years ago, we began to think about the necessity of “verbalizing” our actions (including those of our staff members involved in OKURADO).　By “verbalizing,” naturally, what we do and what we think can be more easily communicated to people outside, including our customers.

By reviewing my own verbalized text, I have been able to create a more coherent output in various situations. However, when it came time to verbalize, it was more difficult than I had imagined.

The reasons for this, for example, are as follows

1. The design I try to create starts not from “language” but from “image” in my mind.
2. In each step of the production process, we often do things unconsciously (or only sincerely) and do not realize that the process is the object to be verbalized in the first place.
3. I can’t find the right words for what I am aiming for, what I am trying to do, etc.

After nearly a year of work and with the help of others around me, I was finally able to put together a five-point “MISSION” (OKURADO ‘s mission).　The mission statement expresses our approach and what we are aiming for. Please take a look.

Concept

▲please click here

Now that I have put it into words, I will be more rigorous in my approach to this “MISSION. To be honest, however, I could not put into words all of my thoughts and feelings.　

Partly because of my lack of vocabulary, I would like to continue to express what I could not put into words through jewelry.

Thank you very much for your patience with my poor designer’s journal this year.

OKURADO will continue to create in 2025.　We would be more than happy if our jewelry could bring you a little peace of mind.

We wish you a happy holiday season and a happy new year.

ring with cobalt spinel, rose cut diamonds

*click here for a journal about rose cut diamonds

necklace and ring with cobalt spinels, rose cut diamonds

*click here for a journal about rose cut diamonds

Hitoshi Okura

OKURADO

OKURADO’s Approach to Ethical and SDGs

▲the journal written about a mission to society