Ryo Kaneko is a Tokyo ceramicist whose one‑room rental serves as both living quarters and workshop, a place where every shelf, seat and surface bears his hand.
Living and Working in One Room
He turned a modest floor plan into a layered environment, blending softened light with textured surfaces that double as storage. The design grew from a habit of repurposing: when a chair no longer fits, he cuts it down, reshapes it, and slots it back in. Over three years he has crafted every piece of furniture, from a low‑profile desk to a dining table that also hosts his sewing machine and camera gear.
Before pottery, Ryo studied fashion and spent years sewing garments. That background informs his approach to material, favoring hand‑stitched details on cushions and patchwork lamp shades made from German newspapers. The skill set lets him switch between clay wheels and fabric scissors without missing a beat, keeping his hands busy throughout the day.
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He refuses to chase a flawless interior. Instead, he aims for a space that feels lived‑in, practical and unmistakably his. The result is a home that shifts seamlessly between making, resting and resetting, guided by daily rituals that keep the cramped layout calm.
It contains a compact shoe seat, a repurposed shelving unit turned sofa, a custom‑built shelf for storage bins, and a narrow kitchen hidden behind sheer curtains. Above the shoe seat, glaze swatches form a small gallery. A paper fish hangs over the sofa as a whimsical accent.
DIY Storage Tricks
Low ceilings in rentals often feel oppressive, but Ryo hangs sheer curtains that add visual length while diffusing sunlight. The fabric folds create a soft veil, balancing privacy with light.
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To squeeze more storage, he built a shelf that perfectly matches a stack of containers, then placed the paper fish above it. He admits, “When I find something like this, I always get it – the more meaningless, the more I want it.” The fish watches over the sofa, which itself was rebuilt from an old shelving unit.
He also fashioned a compact seat for shoes that doubles as a storage bin. The seat’s underside holds footwear, while the top displays his pottery glaze samples as a personal art wall.
In the corner, a narrow desk occupies half the space of its original form. Ryo cut the wood, saved the off‑cuts for later projects, and positioned the desk snugly beside the sofa. Behind it stands a bookshelf inspired by Donald Judd’s Marfa library, assembled from pre‑cut Shina lumber core pieces. “I just got to do the fun part … putting it together,” he says.
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His dining table functions as a multipurpose workstation. It supports sewing, product photography and everyday meals. Even the thin ledge beneath the tabletop holds a diary and notebook, while an adjacent wall niche creates an extra gap for hidden storage.
In the kitchen, Ryo relies on S‑hooks to suspend his most‑used scissors and a kettle that is otherwise hard to store. The narrow layout forces him to keep tools within arm’s reach, turning necessity into a tidy display.
He removed the sliding door between the sleeping area and the living space, letting light flood the whole unit. The trade‑off was less privacy, but the bright, open feel matches his preference for a single‑room lifestyle.
