"Making AJI PROJECT products is just fun" - Teru Takahashi

I have also had the opportunity to create OISEAU, but I am mainly working on my new product LUMP.

It is difficult to accurately create a figure like OISEAU, but on the other hand, LUMP is relatively easy to make.
But even though there are easy and difficult parts, making AJI PROJECT products is all fun.

I hope people can understand that because these are stone products, each and every one is different, and that each one is "made by hand."

If they are all the same shape, it looks like they are all made by machine, but I say, "All the stones are 'hand-made'... It's difficult to convey that, because customers can only see the finished products.

My impression has changed a lot. Up until now, I've been making graves and building them on-site, erecting torii gates, and so on, and I know this sounds bad, but somewhere along the line I had this idea that larger items are more profitable than making and selling lots of small items. Of course, that's still the case in the current situation, but then, what should we do when gravestones start to sell less? Since I started making products for AJI PROJECT, my perspective has changed from "small items" to "small items are amazing."

Plus it's simply fun to make (laughs).
It's fun to see various things take shape through my processing, and it's also gratifying when people say they want them.

That's right. In the time of my great-grandfather Ujiro (the founder), they only did processing, but in my grandfather's generation they started dealing in garden stones, and they also started quarrying stones at a quarry... that's how it goes. Their main business is gravestones.

I graduated from university and joined the company in 2012...it's been 10 years now.
At first, I was planning to continue my training after graduating, and entered a university in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture (where there is a vocational training school for stone masonry), but the situation around the time of graduation made me think, "Maybe I should go back to my hometown." There are two stonemasonry complexes in Okazaki, just like in the Aji production area, but at the time, one of them was a little depressed... Now, young people like "Masons" are working hard, and it seems to be doing well.
That was the situation at the time, so I just came back here and joined the company.

I entered the architecture department of Takamatsu Technical High School and majored in architecture at university, but the reason I chose architecture was because I thought, "When I come back, I have to be a stonemason, so wouldn't it be better if I could read blueprints?" So when I entered high school, I had the feeling that I would have to be a stonemason.

When I graduated from high school, I thought that I might become an architect, but when I considered the option of taking over the company, my father told me, "If you're going to take over the company, you'd better learn a lot at university," so I went to university.When I was about to graduate from university, my high school homeroom teacher asked me, "Why don't you become a teacher at our company? As an assistant teacher for the time being."I was a little hesitant, but in the end I went on to my original choice of becoming a stonemason.
For me, that was the most natural thing to do...I think I always had a vague idea that I would do something like that (be a stonemason).

Basically, we have dedicated staff for each task, so the polishers are always polishing, the grinders are always grinding... In my case, I draw plans for the gravestones, install them on-site, carve the letters, and am called to help out at construction sites...

Even when I go to a construction site and am handed a blueprint, I can understand to a certain extent, "Oh, this is how it goes here," and because my high school classmates are directors at various design firms, if I don't understand something I can ask them straight away, so I think I'm able to make use of that experience.

I'm good at it...or rather, I like it, so I like going to construction sites, especially construction sites.
I love creating things together with people from all kinds of industries.

It's fun to see the progress being made every day, and even though we are paid to do the work, there are customers who say "Wow, it's beautiful, thank you!" after the work is finished... At the construction site, the site supervisor asks "When do you think this will be finished by?" and we all respond by saying "Hmmmm..."

There's no particular tool that I absolutely have to use, but I do take care of the tools that I use myself.
I don't really like people touching me (laughs).

I took a test (Stoneworks Construction Skills Test) in my second year after joining the company, and I still take good care of and use the tools I got at that time.
Even though it's a set, I still use it by changing the handles myself.

If you fail, it will be a costly stone (laughs).

It's the same with other stones, but I try not to make mistakes... But when it comes to the stones at our quarry (Takahashi Stone), compared to the Aji stones from other quarries, the grain is a little different, and they feel sticky, so even if you use a chisel or a pushpin, it's hard to bend them well. So when I process my own stones, I try to be bold.

Hmm... If I lose my concentration, I'll pop into a convenience store, but nothing in particular. I have a high school classmate at work, so maybe chatting with him helps me refresh.

On my days off in the summer, I take my friends' kids to go fishing or to the beach.
In the winter, I go to a campsite in Shionoe, where it often snows, and go skiing on a sled that I bought at a 100 yen shop. My father used to take me camping when I was little, so I quite enjoy the outdoors.