お客様と共に楽しむことが
未来を照らす“ものづくり”につながる

私たちが大切にしているのは、
新しい挑戦を楽しむこと、お客様にしっかりと応えること、
そして「すずも」が人の想いを活かす場所であること。
この「すずも」らしさを生かして、
未来を明るく照らす製品をお届けします。

Enjoying every moment together with our customers leads to creation that lights up the future.

What we value the most is to enjoy new challenges, to be sure to meet the needs of our customers, and to make SUZUMO a place to realize the thoughts of people.
We shall make the most of such unique features to offer products which brightly light up the future.

An ever-challenging stance

新しい技術や型にはまらない
発想、そして
人との縁が、魅力ある商品を生み出しています。

Novel technologies, original and nonconventional ideas, and human connections are what bring out attractive merchandise.

We’ve always adopted new technologies whenever necessary.

Tasks like engraving family crests and family names onto chochin used to be done manually in the past. Ever since we were the first in our industry to adopt the cutting plotter and large commercial inkjet printers, we’ve been able to respond to different demands flexibly, dealing with them according to their needs.
Moreover, when there was a need to mass produce chochin of the same shape at multiple lantern factories, we made it possible to make a metal mold which would minimize differences in quality by newly adopting computer aided design (CAD).

New technologies produce new merchandise.

CAD has greatly improved our degree of freedom in design.
We’ve developed can-shaped chochin and bottle-shaped chochin to be used by beverage manufacturers. We are a pioneer in making originally shaped chochin.
We’ve also developed bottle-shaped chochin with a free-standing base structure.

Self-standing chochin led to the invention of chochin which wouldn’t fall down or tumble, just like the self-righting Dharma doll. Also, by adopting LED light sources, we’ve realized a flickering light like a candle.

The MIC series came about from a single reunion.

In 2009, we were to collaborate as a team to take part in the Yoru Ume Matsuri (Night Plum Festival) at Kairakuen in Mito. At about the same time, our CEO Ryutaro Suzuki happened to reunite with an old friend, MIC*ITAYA, a visual artist, for the first time in more than thirty years. The MIC series was born when Suzuki simply said, “Why not have a little fun with us?”

With their age-old original washi (Japanese rice paper) texture and foldable functions preserved as is, the MIC series is a line-up of old, but new lighting equipment designed by MIC*ITAYA, illuminating our daily lives today and tomorrow. The development was speedy, only a few weeks from design drawing to completion of product. It could be considered a culmination of SUZUMO up till then, with its CAD design, metal mold, traditional handmade firebox, self-standing base structure, LED, and sound sensor.

Making new products means proposing new ways of using them.

We’ve engaged in joint projects with various corporations. We are thankful for these opportunities for having been able to adopt and develop new technologies, make innovative products, and suggest new and original ways of using chochin.

For example, in collaboration with the Ibaraki Robots, a local professional basketball team, we developed new lanterns that attach to penlights and proposed a new way of using them to cheer for the game.
Also, MUJI Yorktown Mito has a chandelier made of 72 ICHI-GO lanterns from the MIC series. The idea of collecting a large number of fire bags, which are the main body of a chochin, and turning them into a chandelier is a proposal for a new way to use chochin.

Reliable adaptability

いつだって前向きに、柔らかい発想で。
心がはずむような
“期待以上のワクワク”

生み出したい。

Always looking forward with flexible ideas.
We want to create that heart-sparkling excitement beyond our anticipation.

The ability to receive and accept

We are sincere in our approach to any request.
From traditional chochin to absolutely new products, from a single custom-made order to bulk customized orders, from repairs to brand-new orders, we take on all kinds of orders.
We believe it is our professional integrity to seriously face our customers with sincerity and consider all possibilities of realizing their requests, no matter how difficult they are.
We also receive orders from abroad or from new realms at times.
It is our great joy to receive new kinds of requests.

The ability to respond

We shall meet our customers’ expectations as ‘a chochin shop that offers suggestions.’
For over 150 years we have been making chochin to be used in various scenes such as festivals and Obon events. We’ve also accumulated our own original experience and know-how by continuing to take challenges for new technologies and making new chochin.
Our ideas and resourcefulness embedded in such experiences and know-how become the ability to give suggestions beyond our customers’ expectations.

The ability to support and assist

Flexible and speedy support is also our forte.
For instance, family crests of former orders are all compiled in a database for use in subsequent orders, and we are also able to quickly create data of first-time ones in-house. As for sign boards, we can engrave original patterns and designs onto the chochin after carefully hearing the customers’ manner of use, preference, shop atmosphere and so on.
With our quick adaptability and light footwork, we will deliver the one and only chochin for our customers to meet their requests.

People who support SUZUMO

ものづくりを楽しむ人が集まる。
それぞれの奏でるアイデアが響きあう。

A gathering of those who enjoy craftsmanship and creating things.
Each and every idea they create all blend and resonate.

“Our people are good”
These words are what we value most as the strength of our company.

In short, there are a number of different processes in the making of chochin until the finished product is finally delivered to the customer. Our strength lies in actively and fully making the most of all the individual voices with different qualities taking on each of those processes.
Being free to do what we want welcomes new challenges and creates an atmosphere to enjoy our work. This corporate culture leads to the chochin making of SUZUMO.