You detect something of a quest for perfection in Postalco’s work. A sliver of imagination that sticks itself into something not quite good enough and prises it open, revealing new territories within.

Postalco’s very first project began in just such an inquisitive way. Bag designer Mike Abelson found the bag of his partner, graphic designer Yuri Abelson, stuffed with awkwardly bent papers from her work. He set about making her a better carry case for her papers, which resulted in the Postalco legal envelope.

As time went on, the couple relocated from Brooklyn to Shibuya and got inventing. They thought up two different types of printers, and reinvented tool boxes, notepads, and rubbish bins. The Ablesons collaborated with leatherworkers and textile brands from around the world to bring their unique, tacticle visions to life.

Their solutions are often materially dependant: they reflect the precise history of the leather, brass, cotton and fabric which has passed through the designers’ and factory workers’ hands. Their decision to move to Tokyo was in part to be closer to producers like the master papermakers at Tokushima’s Awagami Factory, who produce the delicate mulberry bark washi papers that are used for Postalco’s Farmer’s Felt wallets.

We’re proud stockists of Postalco, and have been carrying them since we first opened our store in Amsterdam. If you’re in the Netherlands, come and visit our shop to get a feel for these supremely tactile objects.