About Us

VANCA's driving mission is to create original designs that are both functional and fashionable. We use only the finest Genuine leathers, lead free metal with non-toxic stains, and fully guarantee all of our products. Each item is painstakingly handcrafted to ensure lasting quality and durability to give you years of satisfaction. They will grow even more beautiful with age and use. Nothing more important for us than bringing you a smile and years of satisfaction with it's quality.

VANCA CRAFT, INC. was established by Kinnosuke Tanaka in 1890 in Tokyo, Japan, as the first artificial flower manufacturing company in Japan. Our exquisite products had been presented to the Japanese Emperor in the past.

As the times changed, the 3rd generation owner and family member, Shigeo Tanaka, our designer, started to work on handmade crafts with genuine leather. Shigeo has designed and produced more than 1000 different products including stationary, keychains, and desk accessories over the past 30 years, and he is still working on new designs. About Vanca Craft Under Shigeo's careful supervision, VANCA CRAFT's 25 skilled craftsmen carefully make our fine leather goods by hand and work diligently in our workshop in Chiba,
Japan, to ensure all the products are always available for our customers. We create original one of the kind designs that are not only functional but also cherishable. These delicate works of art cannot easily be copied by machine or unskilled imitators.

VANCA's mini-3D-leather Japan made products have been highly valued throughout Asia as well as Europe. We only work with organically tanned finest genuine leather using 100% non-toxic materials. All items are meticulously hand crafted to ensure lasting durability to give you years of satisfaction. We take pride in our product quality and fully guarantee all of our products.

We are confident that our genuine leather items will warm your heart once it arrives in your hands.

 

                             

YEAR  
1890 Kinnosuke Tanaka pioneered in manufacturing artificial flowers, essentially brooches, for western-style clothing (called kamikazarizoka) in Japan. He oversaw production by himself. The company name Yorozuya Honpo was chosen. Apprentice artificial flowers craftsmen were trained. Began selling wholesale to retailers in Asakusa Kuramae in Tokyo. Products were delivered to department stores
1919 Kotaro Tanaka, the eldest son, took over the family business Yorozuya Honpo.
From wholesale, the idea to devote more efforts into the manufacturing business emerged.
1943 Business was interrupted due to World War II
1947

Business resumes after the war.

The company name was changed to Yorozuka Kenkyujo (Institute). Without being limited to the production of artificial flowers, plans were made to produce clothing accessories in creative ways.
1948 The company aimed to ship 50% of its products as exports. This was a time when facing bankruptcy was a common hardship for many businesses relying heavily on exports.
1952 After two difficult years, new plans were made to adopt the use of wool to create “sunflower brooches”, which was a big fad at the time nationwide
1954

Established as Yorozuya Kougei (Crafts) Co., Ltd.

Plans were made to create unique accessories with the careful selection of fabrics, especially the use of nylon stocking material.

We exported a product called “Nylon Flower Accessory”
1956 Exports: 80%
Domestic Market: 20%
1958 Hat material was introduced as a new material.
“Fruit Pep” (Miniature Fruit) as a shoe accessory was exported.
1962 Leather was introduced as a new material.
Plans were made to use leather to create artificial flowers.
1964

Room accessories were gradually added to the portfolio of manufactured items.
To adopt an English name, our company name was changed to Vanca Craft, Inc. from Yorozuka Kougei (Craft).

The Japanese Kanji reading of 萬家 (BAN-KA) means “We make everything.”
1965

Although it was difficult to continue exporting products at low prices due to the unfavorable exchange rate, accessories for interior decorating were in their early developmental stages.

A lot of concentrated efforts were put into the production plans of the new products.
1970 Desktop accessories made from fabric, resin, metal, and paper were all were gaining popularity.
1972

Shigeo – the eldest son of the third generation of the family business – took over the business.

Desktop accessories made from denim (called “Jeans Crafts”) were a popular item. These comprised the majority of manufactured items.
Exports were revived but only to Europe.
1975 Leather and vinyl fabric were actively introduced as new materials.
Animal and shoe-shaped pen stands and tabletop smoking sets were big hits. 
Exports to Europe: 30%
Domestic Market: 70%
1977 A new sewing technique was introduced which involved squeezing product materials in leather. 
Out of playful creativity, a leather cigarette lighter case was in development. Each part of the cigarette container of the case was supplied by OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers).
1980 Practical accessory bags and figurines as three-dimensional leather goods were displayed thrice in Messe Frankfurt exhibitions in Germany.
Our exports no longer catered exclusively to European culture and taste.
1982 We did not limit ourselves to the traditional, ordinary use of leather. Instead, we focused our efforts on the development of fun accessories through trial and error.
1983 Three-dimensional leather figurines were mass produced. We succeeded in reducing our retail prices.

The company entered the tourism industry as a manufacturer of small three-dimensional leather goods.
Among these were fish novelty keychains which were a big hit nationwide.
1993 As we entered the “bubble economy” era, we produced better quality products. As we continued to push the limits of playful creativity, we ventured into the variety goods industry and began actively showcasing our products in trade shows.
1995 The company developed a special technique in making leather figurines. We aimed to give all our hand-crafted products an elaborate finish.
We received requests from famous retails stores  nationwide to supply all of our products. Each item was painstakingly handmade in our company workshop. We began labeling all our products with the slogan,"The Leather Story".
2002 We established an affiliate company: Vanca Design Co., Ltd.
Shigeo Tanaka became theRepresentative Director and Designer:  Michiko Tanaka, Shigeo’s wife, was appointed as Representative Director. We received requests from famous retails stores nationwide to supply all of our products.
2004 We adopted the “The Leather Story” as a registered trademark slogan.
2008 We started our own website and online shop: vancashop.com.
We launched a U.S.-based “The Leather Story” branch.
2012 The company began expanding its online presence by sequentially opening online shops on Rakuten, Amazon Japan, Amazon U.S.A., Amazon E.U., eBay, Etsy, and many more.
2015 We continue to uphold our legacy in all our services as “The Leather Story” continues up to the present.

 

 
 
Seller Information
Vanca Craft, Inc.  www.vancajapan.com  
1-23-24 Higashinakayama Funabashishi Chibaken Japan. 

Phone : +81-47-336-1345 FAX :  +81-47-335-6033 
E-mail :  vanca@vanca.com
Contact Person
Kon Tanaka