She is here!

(from left) Minato & Hiroko Ishikawa, PASH’s duo owner Paula & Shelley

I have been so looking forward to this day, as well as being so nervous about it. Hiroko Ishikawa, the owner and stylist of Farmer’s Table came to North Yorkshire! 

Farmer’s Table is a fabulous shop in Tokyo and has always been one of my favourites since it opened more than 25 years ago! Today Japan has got so many shops selling things for interiors (they are often called “ZAKKA”), handcrafts, vintage, antiques from all over the world, but all that really became a big boom in late 80’s and thereafter. Hiroko started well before that with such fresh and fabulous sense of styling, and was a sort of guru. Her shop display was stunningly eye catching with all beautiful items carefully chosen by her that you haven’t seen anywhere else, certainly not following the trend. That still continues today in her new shop in Ebisu. (you can see the images of the shop from this video from last year: here)

It all started from a little conversation we luckily made when we were visiting her shop this summer. I’ve invited her here knowing that she is coming to UK for a ‘buying’ business trip. Then, the rest was history! Her husband, a graphic designer Minato Ishikawa, and Hiroko came all the way from London where they were staying, accompanied with her business partner, Yuko & Hideaki Takezawa, who are based in North London. What a great pleasure to escort them! I took them to PASH to start with (rummaging through their wonderful chocked full of goodies in stock!), then visited a few recommended shops in York. Yuko had a great experience and knowledge in selecting stuff too, which was rather educational to watch. They seemed to have a whale of a time and bought stuff that filled their car, which made me relieved knowing that it was a worthwhile trip! Now I felt honoured to have done this ‘escort’ role! It is such a joy just to imagine how those items are going to be styled in Farmer’s Table.

Hiroko and Minato enjoying PASH’s display

PASH dressing up for Christmas

guess which one is going to join in Farmer’s Table??

lunch at the scrumptious cafe the pig and pastry

i loved these drawers

“Banana Warehouse” seemed to be a hit

Thank you so so much for coming all the way, Hiroko-san, Minato-san, Yuko-san and Hideaki-san. It was lovely having you here and spending a wonderful day with you. Maybe I’ve managed to say “Yorkshire ain’t bad”? xm