When good design is how it feels

Tokyo’s Postalco made your favorite notepad. Now it wants to make your favorite shirt.

Postalco, the Tokyo-based brand that’s best known in the US for its stationery products — but that also makes wallets, backpacks, and even a chair — has become one of my favorites by designing everyday tools with high utility, clever details, and impeccable, only-in-Japan craftsmanship.

But what I’ve come to love most about Postalco is how husband and wife designers Mike and Yuri Abelson — who started the company in their old Brooklyn apartment in 2000, and moved to Japan the following year — share the details of their thinking and process that lead to such specific products.

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Hi, I’m Dan Frommer and this is The New Consumer, a publication about how and why people spend their time and money.

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• Apparel
• Brands
• Design
• Direct to Consumer
• E-Commerce
• Japan
• Mike Abelson
• Postalco
• Tokyo
• Yuri Abelson