We live in an era that has perfected the glossy appearance of quality. The weight of a box, the curve of a logo, the satisfying click of a lid: all of these elements are engineered to feel premium before you have even seen what’s inside. But the external feel of a product’s packaging is not the same as the product itself. And we’ve all experienced poor quality items that disappointed us because they were marketed so well.
We love good marketing, but believe good marketing is only as good as the product it highlights. When something is actually made well, when the time and the skill and the materials are all real, it’s a difference you can feel. So in today’s journal, we’re going to wonder out loud about what it means to own something like that in a world where authenticity and quality have become genuinely rare.
Even though those might sound like buzzwords, at KIM+ONO, we have been thinking about this for a long time. Renee and Tiffany grew up around their family's shop in San Francisco's Chinatown, watching their parents curate pieces that had been made by hand, with care, by people who had spent years learning the craft. When the Tam sisters built KIM+ONO, they weren’t trying to replicate traditional kimono, but rather to preserve something of its substance: the belief that what you wear against your skin every day is a meaningful act.
Photo by Ashley Streff
It Starts with the Silk Itself
Kimono robe silk is a genuinely one of a kind investment. Silk is one of the oldest luxury textiles in the world, and the reason it has lasted is its extremely high quality. Grade 6A Mulberry Silk, which is what we use across our Silk Collections, is the highest grade of silk available. The filaments are long, uniform, and strong, which is why the fabric drapes the way it does: with a fluidity that feels like an effortless, natural fit for your body.
You might not know this, but we work with a family-run silk village that has been producing beautiful works with this material spanning back generations. This kind of commitment to craft matters because silk production at this level requires knowledge that can only be accumulated slowly, through years of working with the fiber, understanding its behavior in different conditions, and knowing how it responds to dye and to light. There are no shortcuts for that kind of artisanal facility. You either have the knowledge or you don’t, and you’ll feel the difference in the garment.
The Handpainted Silk Collection: 7 Days Per Kimono Robe
The collection that draws the most questions is our Handpainted Silk Collection, and the question is almost always the same: does it really take that long to make one kimono robe?
It does! Each kimono robe in this collection takes a minimum of seven full working days to produce, and that is not because the process is inefficient, but rather it’s highly specific. The artisan begins by sketching the design directly onto the silk by hand, working from a design developed in-house by Renee and Tiffany. Then the background is painted, field by field, using traditional watercolor techniques applied with a brush. Then comes the motif. Each layer has to dry completely before the next can begin. It’s a stringently timed process because if you rush it, the colors bleed into each other.
What makes this collection genuinely precious, beyond the labor, is that it represents a method of production that is disappearing. The artisans who paint these robes trained for years to do this work, and there are fewer of them every decade. When we say these are among the last of their kind, we mean it in the most literal sense.
Photo by @mariacalderon.art
Why the Motifs Were Chosen & What They Mean
The designs on our kimono robes are not decorative in the way that a pattern on a mass-produced garment is decorative, chosen for trends or other arbitrary reasons. Each motif comes from a tradition of symbolism that stretches back centuries, and we chose them because we believe in their power.
The Japanese cherry blossom symbolism embedded in several of our most beloved robes speaks to something specific: the beauty of impermanence, the understanding that things are most vivid precisely because they do not last. There is a Japanese concept, mono no aware, that describes the bittersweet awareness of transience, and the cherry blossom has represented it for centuries. Wearing it is not just wearing a flower. It is wearing a reminder that the present moment is worth your full attention.
The chrysanthemum symbolism woven into other pieces in our collection has a different meaning: longevity, rejuvenation, the idea that beauty is not something that diminishes with time but deepens. In China and Japan, the chrysanthemum has been associated with autumn and with the kind of grace that comes from having lived fully. For the women in our community who are in the later chapters of their lives, or who are gifting to someone who is, it’s a beautiful way to celebrate the aging process and all the wisdom and beauty it brings.
Photo by @mariacalderon.art
What is the best robe for you?
We are asked sometimes what makes a best robe, and the honest answer is that it depends on what you your everyday is like. If you want something that holds up to daily washing and still feels luxurious against your skin, that is our Washable Silk Collection with Grade 6A Mulberry Silk designed so that it can be laundered at home without losing its drape or its softness. If you want something that will outlast trends and bring the richness of symbolism to each time you wear it, that’s our Handpainted Silk Collection, a kimono robe so specific in its making that no two are identical.
What both have in common is that they were inspired by heritage-rich, traditional techniques that you simply can’t find in modern day production processes. They are each imbued with meaning, symbolism, and great attention to detail, from production to packaging.
How it Feels to Own Something Handmade
When you put on a robe that took seven days to make, that was crafted by someone's hands at every stage of its production, that’s imbued with symbolic meaning, and painted by someone who learned by generational teachings, you can simply feel it. It feels like true luxury in every fiber.
That feeling is what we have been designing for since the beginning – the kind of luxury that can elevate your everyday. That is what real craft feels like, and in our experience, once you have felt it, you’ll find it hard to settle for any less.
