What a delightful little find this place was! Situated on a quiet side street, in the heart of the…read morePlateau, this charming business is chock full of extremely high quality Japanese goods.
The main selection of the products available in the store are textile items, including brightly coloured kimonos in painted silk, kimono cover jackets in *exquisite* and finely detailed shibori patterns, all also silk. There are tabi socks, tamari balls made with finely wrapped string patterns, amazing traditional firemen's jackets, so many kinds of sculptural scarves, woven scarves, and many other types of cloth.
There are select housewares as well, such as cast iron teapots, ceramics, traditional wooden dolls and masks, a few garden ornaments, and jewelry.
The store owner and her one staff person were extremely informative about all of the items in the store, and it was easy to see that the owner of this store takes a great deal of pride in offering very choice, high quality Japanese goods. Now, perhaps you, dear reader are wondering about prices, with all that high quality. Surprisingly, things are very fairly and reasonably priced! I am very, very tempted to go for one of those shibori jackets, as I have never seen anything like them anywhere in Montreal, and being a textile artist, I can deeply appreciate the extreme labour and craftsmanship that has gone into making them. I'm pretty sure I need those cute tabi socks, too.
Definitely worth dropping in for a visit, to meet the people behind the counter, and learn a few things about Japanese culture! Something beautiful might just steal your heart, too. Or, next time you need a *nice* gift for someone, I say get it here.