Making things since childhood, he moved from hair salon work into session work and learned on set in fashion, advertising, and film. Working with leading editors, photographers, and other creatives, he learned the standard of quality and taste required at the top of the field. Photography trained his eye for detail and balance from a third-person view.

Curiosity guides his practice. He has to test variety of disciplines to understand how things are made and where problems sit. Between jobs he built headpieces in metal and fabric, then combs. The project outgrew a hobby. He taught himself design software and digital fabrication while keeping bench methods close. Combs revealed interlocking detail and cross-directional structure, becoming a school in materials and engineering.

Along that path he found a compressed paper composite. It cuts cleanly, takes a fine edge, and develops a quiet patina without degrading. It is shaped by abrasion rather than heat or pressure.

These threads resolve in TANAKA Eyewear. It has been a nine-year progression from hobby to sustained practice. Frames are refined through slow iteration at the bench, by a single maker from start to finish, and documented as an archive.

Recognition: Sustainable Eyewear of the Year and New Designer of the Year, received while Tanaka Eyewear was still in development.