Collection: BLUEPOND

PAPLUS® is an environmentally friendly brand based on the concept of [creating a future of circulation]. Our goal is to provide high-quality, beautiful products while minimizing the burden on the global environment. By considering the entire product lifecycle, from manufacturing to disposal and reuse, PAPLUS® is a brand that embodies a symbiotic relationship with nature, and is committed to realizing a sustainable future.

Commitment to Products
PAPLUS® uses biodegradable materials made from plant-derived and natural ingredients, eliminating petroleum-derived ingredients as much as possible. This is due to our strong sense of crisis over the growing problem of plastic waste on a global scale. From the very beginning of the company's foundation, we have been asking ourselves what materials are environmentally friendly and what materials can enrich people's daily lives, and through many years of research and trial and error, PAPLUS® was born.

The brand story is based on the philosophy of "born from nature, returned to nature. We have created a system that allows products to be recycled and reborn as new PAPLUS® products after use, while maintaining their durability and beauty. We hope that the story of "circulation" engraved on each of our products will serve as a bridge between consumers and nature.

Furthermore, PAPLUS® makes the process from product collection to recycling transparent. By letting customers know which products are being recycled and how they are being recycled, we aim to deepen the trust between brands and help build a sustainable society together. By sharing this story, we provide a brand experience that makes each of us feel like an important part of shaping a sustainable future.

We plan sundries that are "helpful" and "useful" to the materials, the producers, the design, the stores that carry them, and the customers who like and use them.

Commitment to our products:

• Instrumental Meaning: Vocal-less, helpful, useful.
• In planning a product, it is essential to consider the material, the producer, the design, the store that will carry it, and the customer who will like and use it.
• I felt that this feeling was similar to instrumental music.
• The name of our company comes from the image of all the parts complementing the other parts.
• We will incorporate our interests in music, culture, fashion, and other things we have observed in Japan and abroad into our product planning and create goods that will bring joy to our customers, aiming to be a "helpful" and "useful" company.

Starting with traditional Buddhist altarware, to the production of ceramics that add color to everyday life over time.

Yamai Pottery is a family-run business. The pottery is carefully crafted by skilled artisans, one by one, over a long period.
The ceramics are filled with the breath of tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation.
Ito Manufacturer continues to pursue the possibilities of pottery, from the traditional to the modern.

Commitment to Our Products:

• The history of Yamai Manufacturer began more than 60 years ago when the previous president, Shinichi Ito, became involved in the manufacture of Shinto and Buddhist ritual objects at Yamai Manufacturer, a Mino pottery kiln in Toki.
• After the establishment of Yamai Manufacturer, the company began to manufacture sake cups, earthenware bottles, soy sauce jugs, and other products as its main items.
• The soy sauce jug, in particular, was the first Mino ware pottery to be commercialized.
• Even now, it remains a popular product of our company along with sake cups and other items.
• Entering the age of 2025, we added flat plates, mugs, and other products that can be widely used in daily life to our product lineup. From traditional to modern, we continue to explore the possibilities of ceramics.
• Mino ware is a generic term for ceramics produced in the eastern region of Mino Province (present-day Gifu Prefecture) and is recognized as a traditional craft.
• Mino ware has a long history, dating back more than 1,300 years. It is said to have developed from Sue ware in the Nara period (710~794).
• After the Momoyama period (1573~1603), when Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and others established the rule of Japan, various shapes and colors of pottery were produced under the guidance of Sen no Rikyu, tea master and military commander Furuta Oribe, and others. Oribe Furuta's ingenious "Oribe-favorite" pottery is very famous.

The Tono region has been blessed with important resources for producing ceramics, including high-quality clay such as Mokubushi clay and Kagaome clay, and abundant water from the Toki River.
It has flourished as one of Japan's representative ceramic production centers, with various techniques developed following the times.

Magic tableware that mellows the palate of any beverage with its unique metal catalyst technology.
Stylish and luxurious feel created by the high technology of Tsubame-Sanjo and the sophisticated design of product designer Michio Akita.

Commitment to Our Products
Brand History
　[Under the theme of "environmental technology × design," we are engaged in product design products that make full use of our unique metal catalyst technology cultivated in the wastewater treatment business.

　For about 70 years, we have been developing our wastewater treatment business in Shiga Prefecture, home to Lake Biwa, which boasts the largest volume of water in Japan. About 15 years ago, we came across "metal catalyst technology. This technology made it possible to minimize the amount of catalyst and obtain efficient reactions by surface treatment of inexpensive metals instead of very expensive catalysts. This technology, which reduces the viscosity of liquid fuel through a catalytic reaction, when reacted with wastewater containing oil and fat, efficiently separates water and oil and fat, thereby increasing the efficiency of wastewater treatment.

　However, explaining this catalyst technology was extremely difficult. Therefore, we attempted to help people understand the technology by having them experience the reaction of softening a liquid by drinking it. The taste of the drink seemed to change as the reaction softened the liquid, giving the impression of a change in mouthfeel. The cup with the metal catalyst that we were carrying around as a sample at the time was just one of our technical presentation materials, but we received requests from all over the place to commercialize it, so we started product development.

　For those of us who had been in the service industry, product development was a new challenge. Catalysts are very expensive, even in small quantities. Therefore, the finished product would inevitably be expensive. Therefore, we decided to focus on the design of the product because we thought that the quality of the design had to be satisfactory as well.

　It was then that I met product designer Michio Akita. Based on Mr. Akita's idea that "design must be user-friendly," the brand's first product, "78mm" (stainless steel tumbler), was born. It was difficult to reproduce the design, which was filled with thoughts for the user, such as the thickness of the plate used and the angle of the welding, and for two years no company would take on the manufacturing of the product. After two years of rejection, we finally met Takeda Corporation, based in Tsubame-Sanjo. Two years after the conception, the [78mm] was finally completed and VANTECH PRODCUTS was born in 2017.