A furniture collection born from a community workshop in Japan is making its way to Jakarta. At Indonesia Design Week 2026, visitors can discover Ishinomaki Laboratory designs made locally in Bali by CushCush.
The story began in 2011, after the tsunami triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake devastated the city of Ishinomaki. What started as a public workshop gave local residents a place to make things with their hands. The team also helped restore shops and create spaces where neighbours could gather and imagine the city’s future together.
Those early workshops offered more than practical skills. They gave residents an opportunity to work alongside one another at a time when familiar places and routines had been disrupted. Making furniture became one way to contribute to the community’s recovery and consider what could come next.
From that beginning, Ishinomaki Laboratory grew into a furniture label. Designers from Japan and beyond joined its team to develop pieces that combine thoughtful design with the character of handmade work. Although the collection now travels far beyond Ishinomaki, its roots remain in the belief that making can bring people together.
Its journey to Indonesia adds a new chapter. Through the Made in Local collection, CushCush produces Ishinomaki Laboratory furniture in Bali. The collaboration connects designs that originated in Japan with local making in Indonesia, giving visitors a chance to consider the people and places involved in bringing each piece to life.
That connection feels especially at home at Indonesia Design Week, where creative work can spark conversations across disciplines and borders. Ishinomaki Laboratory’s journey shows how an idea shaped by one community can find meaning in another through a shared appreciation of design and craft.
Presented at Indonesia Design Week 2026 in Jakarta this September, the collection invites visitors to look beyond the finished pieces and discover the story behind them: one that began with people helping to rebuild a city and continues wherever design and skilled hands meet.