Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Japanese Wall Coverings Brand Now Available in North America
May 25,
2022 by Laurie Northington in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry 
Ocashi, a made-to-order high-style wallpaper brand, is now available to interior design professionals in North America. Inspired by ancient Japanese chinoiserie designs, the four distinctive patterns in two striking collections, can be custom-tailored to suit the needs of the designer and their clientele.
Combing historical archives for inspiration, top interior designer and businesswoman, Yasue Ishikawa, and her daughter, Risa Ishikawa, a leading product designer, unearthed long lost chinoiserie art from their native Japan. They knew reinterpreting these ancient treasures for the modern marketplace was something they wanted to do. Around the same time, the Ishikawas were seeking the proper products to launch in North America for top-level professional designers.
“In Japan, wallpaper is far more common than paint for our interiors,” noted Yasue. “Our company’s artisans and wallpaper makers have spent decades creating beautiful wallcoverings for our clients; we wanted to use those creative and technical capabilities to develop designs a global audience would enjoy.”
That’s how Ocashi was born. Ocashi, referring to a delectable treat, as well as an ancient philosophical word meaning behavioral elegance, is a capsule collection with patterns suitable to be used as a single panel, a repeating pattern of panels, a full mural, or a pattern in combination with coordinating solid wallpapers. All the Ocashi offerings can be customized by size, color, design, individual art elements and substrate. Woven silk and traditional Japanese handmade washi paper are two of their substrates.
“Our goal is to bring modern and ancient Japanese aesthetics together in completely fresh wall coverings that tell timeless stories,” Yasue commented. To do that they overlaid the original chinoiserie motifs with flora and fauna hand painted by modern artist, Suzu Ishii.
Designers can place orders directly from the Ocashi site or discuss options with the Ishikawas. Orders typically ship within five-to-10 business days from receipt of confirmation.