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KONICHIWA
Frome-based designer, Claire Rose, set up her company, Ukiyo-Go, to introduce the Haramaki (kidney warmer) to a European audience. As someone who suffers from poor circulation and therefore always feels the cold, she spent many winters with a scarf wrapped around her waist to keep her warm. One day her interest in Japanese history delivered her a chance solution - the Haramaki (kidney warmer), which she found in a book about Samurai. She immediately set about trying to find herself a modern-day version and her research revealed that, while they did exist, they were very difficult to get hold of outside Japan, so she decided to start making her own.
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Claire's handmade Haramaki (kidney warmer) comes in two shapes. Traditional unisex style made in a luxurious bamboo fabric and a must-have fashion version. Both remain true to their origins but have been injected with a new life to make them highly versatile and desirable to a broader audience. So far, this includes Holistic Practitioners and their patients, people working outdoors, students of yoga and the martial arts, cyclists, wild swimmers, and pregnant women.