Our damascene craft is called Kyo Zogan.Kyo Zogan is a traditional Kyoto handicraft created by carving a cloth-weave inlay texture onto thin iron sheets,inlaying pure gold and silver designs onto the texture, applying lacquer over it, and then placing hatching ontothe gold and silver designs after polishing them.Zogan was born in Damascus in Syria, after which it is said to have been brought to Kyoto in the 8th century via the Silk Road. Subsequently, the process of carving the cloth-weave inlay texture onto the thin iron sheets,implanting the pure gold and silver, applying lacquer and baking was repeated and developed into a unique technique which came to be called Kyo Zogan.After the 16th century, the Umetada and Shoami family lines of sword smiths advanced the technique to be used as ornamentation for swords, and it grew to become the refined and elegant art of Kyo Zogan.After the age of the warriors came to an end, Zogan became to be used for such things as industrial artworks and ornamentation for personal items, and currently the craft is highly praised as one of Kyoto's representative traditional industrial art forms.Our Damascene products are all manufactured by our own crafts men.
