I want to create products that make people think, "I'm glad I bought it from this stonemason" - Masaomi Okada

For the AJI PROJECT products, we craftsmen came up with the original prototypes and proposed to the designers, "This is what I want to make." The designers then arranged it, saying, "Let's make it like this," and then we would say, "This processing is difficult," or "This is impossible," and we would have repeated meetings.
After all, each craftsman has their own specialty, so while communicating with the designers, they come to understand that "this person is good at this processing"... And so it felt like we were gradually getting closer to the finished product.

In my case, my main job was originally to make gravestones, so I mainly made square pieces. From the early days of the AJI PROJECT, I tried to make things as simple as possible. So, compared to other craftsmen, my work may have left a weaker impression at first glance, or may not have been flashy. But then the designer's ideas were added to it... I guess it was stimulating, or maybe it was interesting.

We end up looking at things from the perspective of the "processing side." We only think, "This process can be done like this." But the designers are always looking at the customer, and they guide us by saying, "It has to be this kind of design." I feel that this is something that could only be done by AJI PROJECT.

Of course, the design is the basis, and the basic rule is to make things "just like the design," but I am particular about the thickness of the faces. I'm talking about the chamfering of the corners. It takes a lot of work to make all of these chamfers the same thickness. I finish them completely by hand, with a uniform thickness, so that there are no edges that are too thick or too thin. The products I make have a lot of flat surfaces, so if I'm particular about anything, it's in those areas. It's the most difficult thing to understand, though (laughs).

It takes half a day to make even one AJI PROJECT product. The process starts with cutting the stone, but because stone is a natural product, it may not turn out as expected. Aji stone has scratches and black or white balls (lumps of other minerals that were absorbed by the magma before it cooled). Even if you avoid these when cutting, new scratches may appear on the cut surface or black balls may remain. If you have to shift the cut again, it will inevitably take more time.
This is the same method used when making gravestones. The AJI PROJECT also uses Aji stone products. I don't want people to have the impression that "Aji stone is of this (low) quality," so I don't want to think that because it's a small or cheap product, it's probably of this quality.
Sometimes small ones, either black or white, get stuck, but we move them to the bottom...we give great thought to quality when we do our work.

It started before the AJI PROJECT started, and someone once gave me some advice saying, "Instead of just making something that everyone agrees on, why don't you try making something that each of you likes or is interested in?", and that's how the idea of ​​"cars and the like" came up. I like cars too, but I've never made one out of stone, so I thought I'd give it a go... and things progressed from there.

At first, it was purely a hobby, but through the AJI PROJECT I started selling them as gifts in return for local tax donations, and so far I have made over 40 units.

It's a sense of tension and excitement.

Since the other party is stone, if you make even the slightest mistake, it's irreversible. Moreover, there is a sense of tension in continuing to make them all with the same quality as a real car, even when the size is fixed, such as 1/10 or 1/12. We are contracted to make three sizes, from 1/8 to 1/12, and the smaller ones are more difficult. With the larger ones, the tool hits exactly where you intended. But with the smaller ones, you end up hitting places you didn't intend to. I find the tension of not being able to redo it rewarding.

Also, there's the excitement of making something that's never been made before.
Usually, we only look at cars casually, don't we? But when you start building a car, you start to see the incredible attention to detail that went into the design of the car's designers.
It's fun to find things like, "There's a line running all the way here that you can't see," or "The curve of this door is amazing."

We use a lot of Aji stone, but we also deal with Oshima stone and other stones from overseas, though in smaller quantities. Even though Aji stone is the same block of stone, the grain can be slightly different on one end and the other. I think our job is to figure out how to make it match up.
If the grain size is different at the rough stone stage, there is no way we can match it, so in that sense there are of course limitations. But if one side matches but the grain size on the other side is a little different, we can turn it around and assemble it so that it matches... After all, it's a stone that the craftsmen at the quarry went to great lengths to extract, so it would be a shame to return it saying "this is no good"... but since they went to the trouble of extracting it, I think the best we can do is to somehow make use of it.

In this production area, many gravestone manufacturers use a division of labor system, but the stonemasonry in Toro, Okazaki City, where I began training after graduating from high school, handled all processes from receiving the raw stones to making the finished product and shipping it out. Having experienced that, when I came back here, I was surprised and thought, "Huh? So they had a division of labor system here?", which was the opposite of what I had expected.
It's not that I dislike leaving things to others, but I was taught that I have to take responsibility for everything from start to finish right up to the point of shipping, so I gradually increased the number of machines so that I could do the entire process in-house.

Our job is wholesale, so we don't see our customers directly.
In the case of a complaint, they will tell us through their wholesaler "this was not good," but if something is good they will rarely go out of their way to tell us.
So what I make is everything. I want to make products that customers will think, "I'm glad I bought it from that (retail) stone shop," even if they don't know my name.
Even though Chinese-made products are cheaper, customers still go out of their way to buy more expensive domestically produced products, so I think we should provide better products to customers who are willing to go to such lengths.

In the case of the AJI PROJECT, when I exhibit the model cars I have made at exhibitions, visitors still praise them, saying things like, "This car is amazing," without even knowing that I made it.
I'd never had that experience before, so I felt like I was appreciated...it's great to be able to feel the audience's reaction directly.

There are many stone producing areas in Japan, but there are probably few places where the mountains (quarries) and processing are so directly connected.
I think Aji is probably the only place in Japan where you can find a specialized stone transport company. I think it's amazing that they have mountains, they process the stones, and they transport them.

When I'm working, I'm always listening to the radio. Radio is a must (laughs).
I couldn't hear the phone ringing in the factory, so I started working with earphones on, but I felt like it was a waste to just listen to the radio, so I started listening to the radio. Since then, I've been listening to MBS (an Osaka radio station) from morning to night while I'm working.

To change my mood, I spend time with my dog ​​(Yu-kun, male, 15 years old). I take a short walk, or if I get a little annoyed at work, I play with Yu to change my mood... that's how it goes.