[From behind-the-scenes to the star of manufacturing] A 44-year-old wooden pattern shop challenges a future where casting culture blends into everyday life.
Murata Kigata Seisakusho (Munakata, Fukuoka) announced their "April Dream" to make wooden pattern craftsmen the number one dream job for children. Their rare female-centric team merges 3D digital technology with traditional skills, developing the lifestyle brand "coohii" and preserving 100-year-old manufacturing techniques for the future.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 2, 2026 at 00:20
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: June 2, 2026 at 12:57 (1476h 37m after Published)
Our company endorses "April Dream," a project that makes April 1st a day to broadcast dreams. This press release represents the dream of Murata Kigata Seisakusho Co., Ltd.
Founded 44 years ago in Munakata City, Fukuoka Prefecture, our wooden pattern manufacturing company, which creates the "sand mold prototypes" for cast products, is changing the future of an industry facing a shortage of craftsmen. We are a small, elite team centered around women. Armed with sensibilities honed through studying art and design, along with 3D digital technology, we are evolving wooden pattern craftsmen—who have traditionally been a behind-the-scenes presence supporting industry and manufacturing—into admired creators. From industrial parts to everyday miscellaneous goods, we are the source of all shapes, continuing to broadcast the joy of manufacturing to the world.
Reason/Trigger for the Dream
Currently, in the wooden pattern industry, the number of craftsmen is drastically decreasing due to low recognition and an aging population, and its very existence is being forgotten. However, from the familiar taiyaki pan to industrial engines, our daily lives would not function without wooden patterns.
We felt a strong sense of crisis that this wonderful technology might die out, so we launched our in-house brand "coohii" in 2022.
We want to break through the current situation where "value is not conveyed because the technology is unknown." Our dream is to evolve wooden pattern making into an "admired, creative profession" by having the craftsmen themselves take the lead in broadcasting their work, thereby passing on this proud craftsmanship to the next generation.
Current Initiatives
Highly Advanced Fusion of Digital and Analog: Reverse Engineering Without Drawings
We digitize actual objects with high precision using the latest 3D scanning technology. After restoring the shape with specialized software, we realize wooden pattern manufacturing that integrates the handiwork of skilled craftsmen. By combining digital technology and craftsmanship, we have made it possible to respond precisely and rapidly even when reproducing old parts whose drawings have been lost or complex actual objects.
Fusion of a Rare "Female Craftsmen Team" and Veteran Skills
In the male-dominated wooden pattern industry, our company has a rare structure nationwide where four young women lead the worksite. Members gather with diverse specialized skills, such as art and design theory and practical 3D CAD experience.
Here, the "ultimate analog" skills of our veteran craftsman with over 40 years of career and our chairman are fused.
By blending the latest digital technology with handiwork cultivated over many years, drawingless restorations and the original products of "coohii" are born. This cross-generational co-creation is exactly our pride.
Bringing Industrial Technology into Everyday Life: "coohii"
We develop design goods that snuggle up to daily life, utilizing the warm texture unique to sand casting.
We have sublimated the precise processing technology of wooden patterns—originally "tools" for making parts—into products that can be held directly in the hand.
We will broadcast the appeal of "wooden patterns," which have been the behind-the-scenes stars of manufacturing, to the world, passing the value of handwork to the next generation.
coohii Online Store
https://muratakigata.base.shop/
Future Outlook
"Making wooden pattern craftsmen synonymous with creators admired by children"
By 2030, we will evolve our base, Munakata City in Fukuoka Prefecture, into a sacred place for manufacturing where creators and designers from all over the world gather seeking "wooden pattern technology."
In addition, we will expand the products of our in-house brand "coohii" to lifestyle shops around the world, including Milan and Paris. We will broadcast the beauty of sand casting and wooden patterns to the world as a "Japanese Standard." Furthermore, through industry-academia collaboration, we will create opportunities for over 100 students a year to experience the appeal of wooden patterns. We will earnestly realize a future overflowing with the voices of young people saying, "I want to be a wooden pattern maker in the future."
Comments
Representative Director / Makoto Murata
"Wooden pattern making" is the job of giving shape to the "first cry" of all products. However, its value has long been hidden in the shadow of industry.
What we are challenging is not merely the continuation of the business, but creating a "new form of a wooden pattern shop." The "fingertip sensation" possessed by veteran craftsmen with over 40 years of career, and the "flexible sensibility" of young women who have studied design and digital technology. By blending these two specialties, we have evolved into a one-of-a-kind team that not only "makes" but "proposes the shape itself."
"What is not known is the same as not existing."
That is exactly why we ourselves are taking the lead role, continuing to broadcast by fusing the latest digital technology with good old handwork. Our dream is to restore the pride of the entire Japanese manufacturing industry, starting from this small wooden pattern shop.
Children 100 years from now will say with sparkling eyes, "I want to be a wooden pattern craftsman." We will absolutely create such a scenery.
Contact Information
Person in Charge: Murata Kigata Seisakusho Co., Ltd. Makoto Murata
Phone Number: 0940-62-0595
Email Address: info@muratakigata.jp
Company HP: https://muratakigata.jp/
coohii Sales Site: https://muratakigata.base.shop/
Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murata_kigata/
Official X: https://x.com/MurataKigata
Company Profile
Corporate Philosophy: Expanding possibilities through proposal-oriented manufacturing
Company Name: Murata Kigata Seisakusho Co., Ltd.
Location: 1203 Tano, Munakata City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Representative: Representative Director Makoto Murata
Business Content: Wooden pattern making for casting / 3D modeling / Reverse engineering
Established: April 2020 (Private foundation in 1982)
Founded 44 years ago in Munakata City, Fukuoka Prefecture, our wooden pattern manufacturing company, which creates the "sand mold prototypes" for cast products, is changing the future of an industry facing a shortage of craftsmen. We are a small, elite team centered around women. Armed with sensibilities honed through studying art and design, along with 3D digital technology, we are evolving wooden pattern craftsmen—who have traditionally been a behind-the-scenes presence supporting industry and manufacturing—into admired creators. From industrial parts to everyday miscellaneous goods, we are the source of all shapes, continuing to broadcast the joy of manufacturing to the world.
Reason/Trigger for the Dream
Currently, in the wooden pattern industry, the number of craftsmen is drastically decreasing due to low recognition and an aging population, and its very existence is being forgotten. However, from the familiar taiyaki pan to industrial engines, our daily lives would not function without wooden patterns.
We felt a strong sense of crisis that this wonderful technology might die out, so we launched our in-house brand "coohii" in 2022.
We want to break through the current situation where "value is not conveyed because the technology is unknown." Our dream is to evolve wooden pattern making into an "admired, creative profession" by having the craftsmen themselves take the lead in broadcasting their work, thereby passing on this proud craftsmanship to the next generation.
Current Initiatives
Highly Advanced Fusion of Digital and Analog: Reverse Engineering Without Drawings
We digitize actual objects with high precision using the latest 3D scanning technology. After restoring the shape with specialized software, we realize wooden pattern manufacturing that integrates the handiwork of skilled craftsmen. By combining digital technology and craftsmanship, we have made it possible to respond precisely and rapidly even when reproducing old parts whose drawings have been lost or complex actual objects.
Fusion of a Rare "Female Craftsmen Team" and Veteran Skills
In the male-dominated wooden pattern industry, our company has a rare structure nationwide where four young women lead the worksite. Members gather with diverse specialized skills, such as art and design theory and practical 3D CAD experience.
Here, the "ultimate analog" skills of our veteran craftsman with over 40 years of career and our chairman are fused.
By blending the latest digital technology with handiwork cultivated over many years, drawingless restorations and the original products of "coohii" are born. This cross-generational co-creation is exactly our pride.
Bringing Industrial Technology into Everyday Life: "coohii"
We develop design goods that snuggle up to daily life, utilizing the warm texture unique to sand casting.
We have sublimated the precise processing technology of wooden patterns—originally "tools" for making parts—into products that can be held directly in the hand.
We will broadcast the appeal of "wooden patterns," which have been the behind-the-scenes stars of manufacturing, to the world, passing the value of handwork to the next generation.
coohii Online Store
https://muratakigata.base.shop/
Future Outlook
"Making wooden pattern craftsmen synonymous with creators admired by children"
By 2030, we will evolve our base, Munakata City in Fukuoka Prefecture, into a sacred place for manufacturing where creators and designers from all over the world gather seeking "wooden pattern technology."
In addition, we will expand the products of our in-house brand "coohii" to lifestyle shops around the world, including Milan and Paris. We will broadcast the beauty of sand casting and wooden patterns to the world as a "Japanese Standard." Furthermore, through industry-academia collaboration, we will create opportunities for over 100 students a year to experience the appeal of wooden patterns. We will earnestly realize a future overflowing with the voices of young people saying, "I want to be a wooden pattern maker in the future."
Comments
Representative Director / Makoto Murata
"Wooden pattern making" is the job of giving shape to the "first cry" of all products. However, its value has long been hidden in the shadow of industry.
What we are challenging is not merely the continuation of the business, but creating a "new form of a wooden pattern shop." The "fingertip sensation" possessed by veteran craftsmen with over 40 years of career, and the "flexible sensibility" of young women who have studied design and digital technology. By blending these two specialties, we have evolved into a one-of-a-kind team that not only "makes" but "proposes the shape itself."
"What is not known is the same as not existing."
That is exactly why we ourselves are taking the lead role, continuing to broadcast by fusing the latest digital technology with good old handwork. Our dream is to restore the pride of the entire Japanese manufacturing industry, starting from this small wooden pattern shop.
Children 100 years from now will say with sparkling eyes, "I want to be a wooden pattern craftsman." We will absolutely create such a scenery.
Contact Information
Person in Charge: Murata Kigata Seisakusho Co., Ltd. Makoto Murata
Phone Number: 0940-62-0595
Email Address: info@muratakigata.jp
Company HP: https://muratakigata.jp/
coohii Sales Site: https://muratakigata.base.shop/
Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murata_kigata/
Official X: https://x.com/MurataKigata
Company Profile
Corporate Philosophy: Expanding possibilities through proposal-oriented manufacturing
Company Name: Murata Kigata Seisakusho Co., Ltd.
Location: 1203 Tano, Munakata City, Fukuoka Prefecture
Representative: Representative Director Makoto Murata
Business Content: Wooden pattern making for casting / 3D modeling / Reverse engineering
Established: April 2020 (Private foundation in 1982)
FAQ
What is the main initiative of Murata Kigata Seisakusho?
They are fusing traditional wooden pattern making techniques with the latest digital technology like 3D scanning, led by a female-centric team.
What is the 'coohii' brand?
It is an in-house brand offering lifestyle design goods that utilize wooden pattern techniques and the unique texture of sand casting.
What challenges does the wooden pattern industry face?
The industry is suffering from a drastic decrease in craftsmen due to low recognition and an aging population, threatening skill inheritance.