ONEN

My shop name, ‘ONEN’ is originated from the carved words of Chinese character of a large handmade Chinese stamp I acquired at an antique market long time ago.

According to a Chinese guy I know, actually ‘Un Yen’ is the correct Chinese pronunciation, but I have been intentionally mispronouncing it as ‘On En (ONEN)’ that literally means “on the Good karma” in English-plus-Japanese interpretation, since I want to value such good karma with the every items I handle and with the every customers related with.

Not only the uncertainness of what original meaning of ‘Un Yen’ is (I still don’t know yet though), but also the incompleteness of its beautiful component outlines and shape of this carving seal have deeply inspired me. So, I believe that such those uncertainness and imperfections itself as aesthetic wabi factors that require us a stretch of imagination do embody what my shop is about. Again, I hope you enjoy ONEN together with me, on the Good karma.

Shin Arai
https://onen.stores.jp/
https://www.instagram.com/onen_antiques/