The historic town of Hasami in Nagasaki Prefecture is one of the foremost pottery districts in Japan. Hasami began crafting its porcelainware almost 400 years ago during the Edo period, distributing them throughout Japan as well as to Europe through the port of Nagasaki. Hasami craftsmen were able to develop a highly efficient system to mass produce their porcelain products thereby making them more consistent in quality and reasonable in price. HASAMI PORCELAIN was designed by Takuhiro Shinomoto of Tortoise in Venice, CA whose vision was to integrate modern tableware design with the organic quality produced by traditional Japanese manufacturing techniques.