A single hand-dyed indigo kimono suspended against undyed silk — Number 042 / 2026 Collection. — No. 042 — Indigo Yuzen Coat, Annual Collection 2026

Atelier Statement · 寒栖

Tokyo's quiet luxury atelier.

Founded in 1987 by ceramicist Madonna Sugamo in a nine-mat room in Tokyo's Sugamo district, the house produces fewer than one hundred eighty numbered pieces each year — fusing centuries-old Edo dyeing techniques with contemporary silhouettes for collectors who already own everything else.

Each garment passes through six generations of the Sugamo family's proprietary yuzen dyeing lineage, then through the hands of twenty-three resident artisans working from a single eighth-floor studio overlooking the Imperial Palace gardens. No piece is reproduced. No two collections share a dye lot.

The work below is offered by appointment, to a deliberately small circle of clients worldwide.

A hand-stitched numbered label — No. 127 of 180.

The Annual 180.

Each year the atelier releases fewer than one hundred eighty numbered pieces across all collections. Capsules routinely sell through in under five hours. The figure is not a target — it is the upper limit the dye baths, the master artisans, and the quality control room can sustain without compromise.

Pieces per year: 180 max.
Average capsule sell-through: 4 h 12 m
Bespoke waitlist: 14 months

II.

In Residence.

Four holders of the title Living National Treasure of Japan serve as standing collaborators to the atelier. Their average tenure with the house is twenty-seven years. The patterns they pass down — persimmon tannin, mountain indigo, six-pass yuzen — are not licensed. They are inherited.

Living National Treasures: 4 collaborators
Average artisan tenure: 27 years
Generations of Sugamo yuzen: Six

A master dyer at work in the Sugamo atelier.

The eighth-floor atelier overlooking the Imperial Palace gardens.

III.

The Atelier.

A private eighth-floor studio in Sugamo Kogei Tower, Toshima-ku. Twenty-three artisans, designers, and master dyers under one roof. Carbon-neutral since 2022, certified by Climate Neutral Japan. Visits by appointment only, and never on the same day a capsule drops.

Artisans in residence: 23
Atelier floors: One, eighth
Carbon-neutral since: 2022

The private elevator opening onto the Sugamo atelier reception room.

Place · 居

By appointment, on the eighth floor above the gardens.

The atelier occupies a single floor of Sugamo Kogei Tower, two streets behind the older Yanaka gate. From the window of the fitting room one looks across low tiled rooftops toward the trees of the Imperial Palace gardens in spring and winter plum.

Clients who travel to Tokyo for a first consultation are received without ceremony. Coffee is poured. A length of silk is laid on the table. The conversation that follows is unhurried — typically ninety minutes for a first bespoke enquiry, and frequently the beginning of a relationship measured in decades rather than seasons.

Address8F Sugamo Kogei Tower, 2-14-1 Sugamo, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 170-0002
HoursBy appointment, Tuesday – Saturday
Concierge[email protected] · +81 3-5940-7287
TravelPrivate car arranged from Haneda or Narita on request

Featured in the permanent collection of the Kyoto Museum of Textile Arts since 2011 · Grand Prix for Craft Innovation, Japan Fashion Council, 2019 · Vogue Japan · Harper's Bazaar Korea · Maison & Objet Paris

A Letter from the Atelier · ご相談

Request a private consultation.

Dear visitor,

If a piece in the current annual collection has spoken to you, or if you wish to begin the longer conversation that leads to a bespoke commission, the atelier's concierge will arrange a private appointment — in Tokyo, or by correspondence and video when travel is not possible.

Bespoke commissions presently carry a wait of fourteen months. The current allocation for the 2026 capsule is held against a numbered waiting list. Both begin with the same single letter.

— The Atelier, Tokyo

Or write directly to [email protected] · Concierge services