WORKSHOP · 工房

One room. One seal at a time.

Every seal is composed for one name, cut from that exact vector, finished under a loupe and photographed by the same hands. This is where it happens, and who does it.

PHOTOGRAPH · THE BENCH, THE MILL, THE LOUPE · TO BE SHOT IN THE WORKSHOP · PLACEHOLDER

THE MAKER · 職人

［職人名］

［職人紹介 · two or three sentences in the maker's own words: where they trained, how long at the bench, why they stopped at two metals. Written, not translated.］

Signs every dispatch photograph. If a ward refuses a face, it is this bench that re-carves it.

SINCE

［年］

WHERE

［市区町村］, JAPAN

METALS

ALUMINIUM · TITANIUM · NOTHING ELSE

OUTPUT

ONE SEAL AT A TIME · NEVER TWICE

HOW A SEAL IS MADE · 工程

Five steps. None of them skipped.

01 · COMPOSED

Composed for your name.

The engine lays out your characters eight ways, seeded so that no two names get the same face. You approve the exact vector; that vector is what gets cut. A rack stamp shares its design with thousands — wards reject that. Yours is made once.

02 · CUT

Cut from the exact vector.

Machined from one solid rod — aluminium in five days, titanium in eight. The face is milled to a 0.6 mm relief; the rim is left whole so the impression closes. Titanium is denser and slower, which is the whole of the price difference.

03 · FINISHED

Hand-finished and inspected.

Deburred, the rim checked under a loupe, a test impression against the ward's rules — full name, unbroken rim, no hairlines that will wear. If a face fails here it is cut again, not shipped.

04 · PHOTOGRAPHED

Photographed, with its first impression.

The seal and its first impression in vermilion, sent to you before dispatch. It is the record of what you approved; if what arrives differs from it, we replace it.

05 · SHIPPED

Shipped, within Japan, free.

Yamato, one to two days after dispatch, in its case if you chose one. The dispatch photograph is signed by the hands that made it.

WHAT THE WORKSHOP PROMISES

Ten years on the face.

If it wears or chips, we re-carve it free.

Accepted, or re-carved.

A ward refuses it, bring the slip — free.

Photographed before it ships.

Your seal and its first impression, sent to you.

Never carved twice.

A rack stamp shares its design with thousands — wards reject that. Yours is seeded to your name, cut once.

Not open to visitors — but open to questions.

A room this small has no front desk. Write to hello@hanko.works and the person who cut your seal will answer, within one business day.

Read: What the cutter reads →Read: Why titanium, and why we stopped at two metals →Contact →