This time, we introduce illustrator Tomoko Tsubota and graphic designer Daisuke Tsubota, who brought mui’s branding and conceptual vision to life.
Their home and studio in Nanjo City, Okinawa.
The Tsubotas’ home and studio are located in an area blessed with abundant natural springs. Set against the slope of the village and overlooking the sea, it is a beautiful place where they live and work with their two cats.
In their home, there is a room where the shelves lining the walls are filled with novels, reflecting their love of books. They also share a love of film. I remember that, not long after we first met, we found ourselves talking about Wim Wenders and Jim Jarmusch.
For the two of them, reading novels and watching films seem to be a natural part of everyday life.
The two of them are the kind of people who remove the dust jackets from their books.
Perhaps because of this, Tomoko’s illustrations have a wonderful sense of freedom, as if they invite you to wander into another world beyond time and space. Many of the mysterious fragments feel like scenes from a film or a novel, with a figure who seems to be the protagonist—or perhaps just a trace of their presence. I personally love the gentle sense of creative space that remains within them.
Perhaps the letters and words she picks up along the way open up new worlds in her mind, where scenes from films and music take on their own colors, eventually connecting and unfolding into something like a story within her.
The cat who likes to get in the way of Tomoko’s work.
Daisuke is Tomoko’s greatest understanding of her illustrations, bringing them to life through his design.
Sometimes it takes the form of packaging for a sausage shop, a brochure for a store, a mug for a coffee shop, or a business card or website.
Daisuke making a delicious cup of coffee.
For the two of them, a title like “artist” somehow doesn’t seem to sit quite comfortably.
Instead, they take inspiration from the themes and ideas brought to them through commissions from shops and businesses rooted in everyday life, and interpret them through their own world.
Perhaps this kind of work suits the two of them—unhurried, natural, and true to their own pace.
Tomoko’s illustrations for mui, along with the website and the artworks displayed in the rooms, have now become irreplaceable pieces of the world of mui.
Layering the colors of flower petals onto transparent film.
She applies paint to transparent film, then scans the subtle variations in color and organic shapes created naturally by the brush. These elements are then layered and composed digitally on a computer.
She also sometimes works with paper, choosing between the two depending on the texture she wants to create.
This style is something Tomoko arrived at through following her own desire to express what she sees and feels. Analog and digital melt into one another, and the boundary between them becomes beautifully blurred.
The landscapes and memories from their travels through Europe, living as locals for a while. The novels they have read, the films they have watched. And a cat quietly looking down on the two of them from somewhere above it all.
Reality and fiction intertwine in their minds, weaving together into each individual work. Each one is delicate and beautiful, yet carries a sense of playfulness. Somehow, you can feel a little glimpse of Tomoko’s own happiness in them.
A few years ago, the two of them decided to move to Yokohama.
They had lived near mui for many years, and although they are now farther away, it feels somehow natural that the place they call home has changed—just like the way they have traveled through life.
I can still easily imagine their life together, much as it has always been.
The two of them, their cats, books, and films.
As if these precious things alone were already enough, they continue at their own pace, cherishing the quiet beauty of everyday life.
The people around mui is a series about the people and things connected to mui, and the stories around them.
This time, we would like to introduce Oshi and Satomi Nakamura of nakamurakenoshigoto — dear friends of ours, and people who have become an important part of mui.
Their small studio overlooking the sea
To a southern island
Not long after the two had opened their pottery studio in Tokyo, Satomi asked Oshi,
“When are we moving to Okinawa?”
“Isn’t that still a little way off…?”
We can almost imagine the slightly puzzled look on Oshi’s face.
The sea of southern Okinawa, seen from their home — photo by Yuta
Satomi had always wanted to live somewhere warm, and Oshi knew that. Still, he probably didn’t expect her to bring it up just as they were starting their new life and work together.
They had only just opened their studio and were ready to get started. But that didn’t seem to matter much to Satomi.
For her, somehow, it had to be a southern island.
And perhaps Oshi, too, found himself drawn to the life she imagined there.
Their home and studio, designed by Igarashi of studio cochi architects, who also designed mui
After a few years and many visits to Okinawa, the two finally made the move they had been dreaming of.
At first, they lived in an old foreign-style house in Yomitan. But before long, they began to think,
“We want to live somewhere we can see the sea.”
So they decided to build their home and studio in Chinen, Nanjo.
It was around this time that we met them.
By chance, we were also working with Igarashi of studio cochi architects around the same time. Through that connection, we gradually got to know each other.
We began using their tableware ourselves, and later had opportunities to introduce and sell their work overseas.
Pieces by nakamurakenoshigoto are also used in the guest rooms at mui.
Comfortable forms, made together
The tableware of nakamurakenoshigoto slips quietly into everyday life.
The forms they make are ones that feel comfortable in their own lives, and somehow, whatever you put on them seems to fit.
Their pieces don’t have a strong presence that overwhelms the food, or ask to be the center of attention.
But they aren’t simply minimal, either.
There is a quiet beauty in them — a sense that everything unnecessary has gently fallen away.
Even a meal we’ve casually put together somehow looks a little nicer on their plates.
And they are easy to wash.
A mug feels good against the lips.
A bowl or plate sits naturally in the hand.
Their own pieces, used casually in everyday life at home
Satomi’s eye reaches into these small details.
Maybe this is where the particular comfort we feel in their work comes from.
Satomi thinks about the design.
Oshi gives it form.
Each does what they do best, filling in for the other when needed.
And somewhere between the two of them, the pieces of nakamurakenoshigoto take shape.
Satomi also makes ceramic accessories using molds taken from plants found in Okinawa.
And Oshi, when he feels like it, makes little “ojisan” figures.
Oshi studied sculpture at Kanazawa College of Art.Oshi has always loved sketching, and these “ojisan” objects seem to have grown naturally from his sensibility — his sketches taking shape in three dimensions.
The life the two of them want to live keeps changing, little by little, at their own pace.
A studio with a view of the sea.
Working together during the day.
Living with their cat.
At night, looking at the moon, listening to music, or lying down with a manga and falling asleep.
What feels comfortable to them may change again someday.
But for now, this is their life.
Oshi gives form to the small details Satomi imagines.
They made a home as a vessel,
and filled it with the life they share.
And the pieces that come from this everyday life seem to carry the same gentle openness.
“Use it however you like.”
We all had lunch together on the day of the photo shoot.
You can also find their tableware for sale at mui.
Over the past four years, little by little, we’ve begun to see guests come back for another piece.
It makes us happy to imagine that a piece someone took home from mui has found its place in their everyday life, fitting in as if it had always been there.
And we sometimes wonder how many lovely conversations have begun between us and our guests because of the work these two make.
Photo by fujico IG : https://www.instagram.com/fujicolpis/
nakamurakenoshigoto HP : https://www.nakamurakeno-shigoto.com/ IG : https://www.instagram.com/nakamurakenoshigoto/
Added August 16, 2026
As of August 2026, one of the rooms in Oshi and Satomi’s studio has become a small gallery where you can see and purchase their work.
The gallery is currently open by appointment. For more details, please visit their Instagram.
If you have the chance, we hope you’ll stop by and experience their lovely home and studio for yourself.
