How we came to partner with a German jewelry shop. The secret origin story of Adam x sajiring.
September 2023, Thailand.
On a trip to find spoons,
I had an encounter.
That was the beginning of this project.
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On my first day in Thailand,
I headed to a hostel run by an acquaintance.
I was so excited about what kind of spoons I might find. The smell of a foreign country immediately after leaving the airport. The bustling energy of people.
September in Thailand is incredibly hot.
I took a taxi to the city center and walked from there to the hostel. I kept thinking, "Ah, I really want a beer." Lol.
(Photo: Thai beer is crisp and delicious. I drank it every day.)
…
After walking for about 10 minutes, I finally arrived at the hostel.
Sweaty, I entered the reception area to find a single Thai young man at the counter.
And further inside, on a sofa in the common area,
there was a grinning Western young man looking my way.
His smile was strikingly memorable.
His name was Marco Adam.
He was the successor to a jewelry shop in Germany, in its third generation.
---
He actually already knew I was coming.
The hostel owner had told him,
"A guy from Japan who makes rings out of spoons is coming."
So he waited for me, even delaying his plans to go to Bangkok.
(Photo: The hostel where we actually met)
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Since we were around the same age, we opened beers, toasted, and talked about many things: music, hobbies, work. We both worked with "ornaments"
and got excited about our shared love for beer.
Before we knew it, we naturally warmed up to each other,
talking about our respective countries, our pasts,
and showing each other our work.
It was only about one to two hours.
But strangely, it felt like a much more profound time. He truly had good vibes.
---
That day, he left for Bangkok,
and we went our separate ways.
We only spent a few hours together in Thailand.
Yet, that encounter was the beginning of what continues to this day.
I'll write about my spoon-hunting trip in Thailand another time. First, his story.
---
Several months later.
He came to Japan with his girlfriend,
and the four of us—him, his girlfriend, me, and my then-girlfriend—toured Kamakura and Yokohama. When we met again, it already felt like we were brothers. It's wonderful to meet a friend from a foreign land on your own turf.
We shared time across the ocean again, showing them around various places and talking about many things.
It was a strange reunion, like an extension of that earlier meeting.
---
And after he returned to Germany.
A message arrived.
"I'll send you some spoons from here."
It was so natural,
yet those words definitely marked the beginning of something.
---
This project
transcends oceans,
transcends time,
and even transcends the fate of materials.
The collection that captivated many people,
"Adam x sajiring"
Its beginning
was just a few hours
at a small hostel in Thailand.
---
Next time:
Why these spoons are melted down.