GOLDEN BEGININGS

Makanai was born in 2004 as a tribute to the century-old tradition of goldbeaters manually making gold leaves at its predecessor company, Yoshitaka Gold-Ieaf Foundry.
The gold foundry was established in 1899 in Kanazawa, the central part of the mainland of Japan. Women who worked in Yoshitaka were exposed to harsh working conditions such as intense heat, extreme dryness and minimal ventilation while making gold leaves by laboriously pounding solid gold that are interleaved between layers of paper into microscopically-thin 1/10,000 millimeter sheets.

THE DISCOVERY

Working conditions there at the foundry were harsh for the skilled gold leaf artisans-all women-because of the extreme heat and dryness.

Yet, even elderly workers had surprisingly soft and beautiful hands that looked years younger than their faces. Why?

They discovered that submerging their hands into a natural fermented paste-used for making the washi paper to place between sheets of gold leaf- was the reason. Plus their hands were constantly touching gold!

HANDMADE SKINCARE

The Yoshitaka foundry ladies began to make their own skincare products with the materials at hand. As a result, their skin became more radiant and beautiful.

This secret knowledge was passed on from mother to daughter, from generation to generation. After a hundred years of trial and error, our secret skincare recipe was born.