Inside Maana Atelier: Immersive Japanese Craft Workshops in Kyoto’s New Creative Hub
For those seeking a deeper understanding of Japanese culture and crafts, Maana Atelier in Kyoto offers experiential workshops held in a serene century-old space designed by architecture firm Sahena Design and local artisans
Located on a quiet lane in Kyoto’s old textile district Nishijin, Maana Atelier is an experiential creative space that taps into the layers of traditional Japanese culture to improve modern daily life.
It’s the latest addition to Maana Homes, a boutique collection of five traditional houses across Kyoto created by Hana Tsukamoto and Irene Chang, and hosts a collection of workshops that offer first-hand insight into niche elements of traditional Japanese culture and craft.
Maana Atelier is also home to an informal dining space, serving modern izakaya-style cuisine and Japanese natural wines; and a corner boutique showcasing crafts from across Japan. Then there are the deep-dive retreats, staged by Maana Atelier and available to Maana Home’s staying guests. The immersive five-day programmes are anchored in the space but also explore further afield, focusing on themes such as architecture, food, tea harvesting and pottery.
A simple white noren curtain marks the entrance of Maana Atelier, which takes over a century-old former textile-weaving workshop. Inside, the airy, open-plan space is wrapped in natural materials like stone, soil and wood, and flooded with natural light.
‘Everyone wants to understand Japan more deeply,’ says Tsukamoto as we talk over harubancha green tea and organic vegan cookies in flavours like sake lees and black sesame. ‘Our guests kept asking what else they could do in Kyoto to learn more. They’d already done a tea ceremony and a meditation class and wanted to go beyond that. So we set up Maana Atelier as a place where people can study, share knowledge, explore, use their hands and meet people with similar interests.’
The workshops and retreats are led in partnership with Kyoto Research Institute, founded by Momoko Nakamura, an organisation that explores traditional Japanese materials and cultural values.
Created by Maana in collaboration with architect Eri Sato of Sahena Design and local artisans, the atelier is key to the experience. There’s a softly gradated natural material palette of cocooning earthen tsuchikabe walls, stone floors and timber beams. A white linen-wrapped pendant hangs over a large communal table, while a dining table sits in a raised alcove. Here, workshop participants can craft tsuchikabe artworks, learn koji fermentation techniques and blend special tea mixes from local flowers and herbs.
A selection of contemporary Japanese crafts line one wall (soon to be joined by Maana’s products when it launches its retail brand in August), and the open-plan kitchen gently hums with activity, serving dinner and Japanese natural wines to guests after dark.
‘We aim to foster a community rooted in shared purpose and experiences, ensuring that traditional practices are both preserved and repurposed for modern life,’ Tsukamoto explains. ‘People who visit here can slow down, learn and make things, and take this wisdom home with them to apply in their own lives.’
Text by Danielle Demetriou
Images by Iker Zuniga
