Zenbird Editorial TeamAkita Castle Hotel in Akita City has restored approximately 400 unused ceramic plates previously kept in long-term storage, incorporating traditional local craft motifs. They are now used to serve food in its banquet halls.
Originally purchased over two decades ago for weddings and dining venues, the ceramic tableware fell out of use due to surface wear, faded gold gilding, and shifting restaurant concepts. Instead of disposing of the damaged items, the hotel collaborated with commercial tableware manufacturer Ogiso Inc., based in Gifu Prefecture. Ogiso polished the ceramic surfaces, repaired chips, applied new patterns, and re-fired the plates for reuse.
The repainted pattern incorporates the traditional Asanoha (hemp leaf) design used in Akita’s Kumiko woodwork. This design mirrors the decorative ceiling lighting in the hotel’s primary banquet venue, the Hoko no Ma hall, creating a unified visual theme during events. According to calculations by Ogiso, repairing and re-glazing existing ceramic items reduces carbon emissions by approximately 70 percent compared to manufacturing and shipping new tableware.
This initiative forms part of the hotel’s long-standing Eco Hotel Declaration, which includes previous environmental measures like individual air conditioning management, solar heat control films, plastic reduction, and sending food waste to biogas power generation plants.
[Reference] PR Times (Japanese)
