In the Loop, vol.4 – A Circularity-Driven Pop-up Event

Shochiku-en, established in 2019, was born out of the founder’s disappointment in the lack of vegan and vegetarian options in Japan. Now, Shochiku-en the cafe has been serving a vegan menu with a mission to satisfy both vegan and non-vegans since 2019. In addition to Chinese-style buns, the cafe serves a variety of vegan cakes. The vegan tiramisu especially cannot be missed!

Miyuki, originally from Miyazaki, came to learn about the importance of healthy foods and eating habits due to her atopy and her son’s food allergies. These events and her growing awareness of the lack of food choices available in Japan led her to launch her food brand, Tempeh Studio Tokyo. Tempeh, a plant-based, and nutritious food, is still relatively unknown in Japan and she hopes to get more people in Japan to learn about and try tempeh. She kindly asks those who would like to purchase the tempeh frozen to bring a cooler bag with them.

What truly defines a great donut? Come find out when you try Joey’s donuts. These donuts are vegan, soft, fresh, revolutionarily delicious and locally made. Currently only available at the coolest popups in Tokyo, Joey’s donuts are vegan donuts in Tokyo.

Originally from Yamaguchi prefecture, Akane moved to Kyoto to study traditional crafts, backpacked across the world, and has since settled down in Tokyo. She believes that design can appeal to emotions more than words. In 2023, Akane started Prairie Cards with the goal of transforming business card culture in Japan. Prairie Cards seeks to consolidate a lifetime’s worth of business cards into one digital card and application.

Born in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, Miyo started MiYO Organic, a sustainable brand of eco-friendly organic daily necessities, in May 2020 as a division of her family’s 45-year-old Nagoya-based store production company Howa Corporation. Her company develops and sells bamboo toothbrushes, bamboo cotton swabs, bamboo hair combs, and other products. She also manages an online store specialized in sustainable take-out food containers.

In 2019, Romi began working towards publicizing the damaging effects that everyday sunscreens can have on our ocean’s coral reefs. She also became the Japan Exclusive Distributor of Little Hands Hawaii at this time. In 2022, she launched #reefsafejapan, a coral reef conservation organization based in Japan. She also frequently holds talk events and participates in beach cleanup efforts to help protect our planet’s oceans.

Mai started Rus Jewelry in New York in 2017 with the concept of “Recycle reUse Sustainability.” She wondered what Rus Jewelry could do as a brand to lead people to think about environmental issues and create harmony with the global environment. Rus Jewelry is all handmade in their workshop and uses recycled silver that has been refined from precious metal-containing scraps, such as dental equipment. Process and experimentation are at the heart of Mai’s practice. The design and shapes of the jewelry are inspired by nature and express Rus’s approach to avoid simply being influenced by existing trends.

Leimi first began making fashion accessories after graduating from Bunka Fashion College’s Apparel Design course. She first began to question the cycles of mass production and consumption in the Japanese fashion industry after she started making accessories for designer brands. After participating in a beach cleanup event, she realized the severity of the plastic waste in our oceans. This experience inspired her to start Novamentand in October 2022 to raise awareness about the current state of marine plastic pollution and the importance of recycling and not wasting finite resources.

Yoshiyuki moved to the textile district of Kurashiki, Okayama from Tokyo in 2018. In 2020, he established the apparel label land down under, which aims to produce long-lasting, timeless pieces using upcycled materials. land down under’s selection of materials is based on the circular economy, and their “circular clothing” seeks to effectively use fabrics that would otherwise be disposed of at factories. 

Homage Tokyo was created to connect people to things. As the name suggests, we want to give respect and show appreciation to the “things” and the “people” who made, owned and gave beauty to their things/belongings. We do this through activities and workshops that tell a story, such as Swap Events and How-To Workshops. We believe connecting people to things that have history and story helps in spreading fun, awareness, and appreciation.

Yoshiyuki moved to the textile district of Kurashiki, Okayama from Tokyo in 2018. In 2020, he established the apparel label land down under, which aims to produce long-lasting, timeless pieces using upcycled materials. land down under’s selection of materials is based on the circular economy, and their “circular clothing” seeks to effectively use fabrics that would otherwise be disposed of at factories. 

Paul was a student at the Graduate School of Industrial Design. During the school days, he spent time in a factory environment, designing and building interesting objects by hand, using actual hand tools and machines. As a result, Paul has gained a deep understanding of materials, tools, mechanisms, processes… which can actually make things come to life.

As a Creative Director at FabCafe Taipei, Paul put his two main skills of building things with digital fabrication equipment and event planning and hosting into projects that help clients to think and realize their ideas. Events are often used to get participants to think and act on new ideas.


In addition, if you want to trap Paul, a large amount of dark chocolate or interpretive signs of historical monuments usually works well.

FabCafe is a place to accelerate creative serendipity with a nice cup of coffee and collaborative peers.
As an open creative platform, FabCafe aims to empower everyone to take the initiative to make anything, turning their ideas into reality and sharing those ideas in a more tangible way with local and global communities.
A single FabCafe can be a creative hub for designers and the local community to share and experiment with innovative ideas. A network of FabCafe communities worldwide can create an ecosystem that kick starts the next mass customization movement from the bottom up! FabCafe is located around the world, in Tokyo, Barcelona, Bangkok, Taipei and more!

AWRD is an open platform that connects creators and ideas to business projects from all over the world. From product design, technology, art, and ideas for solving social issues, they offer opportunities for designers and creatives  to play an active role through a variety of projects.