Stillwater

Name

Stillwater

Legal name

株式会社スティルウォーター

Website

https://stillwaterworks.jp

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Creative Consulting & Brand Communication Design

NAICS

Food Service Contractors (722310), Soft Drink and Ice Manufacturing (31211)

SIC

Services-Facilities Support Management Services (8744), Bottled & Canned Soft Drinks & Carbonated Waters (2086), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Beverage Service (Coffee/Tea/Juice) & Refreshment Stations (HSACAGAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Beverages-to-Go (Coffee, Smoothies, Juices, Fountain/Dispensed) (CRAHAKAI), Still Soft Drinks & Flavored Waters (Non-Carbonated) (AFAFABAB)

Keywords

• Creative consulting services
• Brand communication design
• Dialogue-based consulting
• Event program management
• Consumer brand management

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Creative Consulting & Communication Design: Stillwater's primary revenue driver. Services include brand development, content strategy, editorial design, interview programs, and inner-branding for companies, organizations, and individual professionals. Delivered through structured programs lasting 1-3 months, priced from ¥150,000 to ¥500,000+. Clients include corporations (Mitsubishi Estate, beauty salons, restaurants) and cultural institutions.
2. The Days Brand (Product Sales): Direct-to-consumer sales of The Days branded products including Thai organic coffee (whole beans, ground, drip bags), Asian lemonade with honey and spices, and gift sets. Products are sourced from Thai organic farms and roasted in Fukushima Prefecture, sold via the company's own e-commerce store. Revenue is one-time transaction-based per product.
3. Event Participation Fees: Ticketed workshops and dialogue events for consumers. Dialogue workshops ('答えのない問い') range from ¥2,500-8,800 per session; reading club events range ¥1,000-2,500. Events serve both community building and revenue generation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Stillwater is a Tokyo-based creative consulting firm that delivers communication design and brand development services using a proprietary dialogue-based interview methodology. It also operates its own consumer brands—Thai-sourced organic coffee (The Days), Japanese-made kitchen tools (Homeland), and curated lifestyle goods (stillwater select)—sold direct-to-consumer via its own e-commerce store, and runs recurring community programs such as dialogue workshops and reading clubs.

Product overview

Stillwater is a creative consulting firm offering communication design services centered on dialogue and interview-based approaches. The company's portfolio comprises three main pillars: (1) Original brands including The days (organic coffee and beverages from Thailand and Japan), Homeland (Japanese-made kitchen tools), and stillwater select (curated lifestyle products); (2) Service offerings encompassing interview and consulting programs, the '答えのない問い' workshop series, '少女は本を読んで大人になる' reading club, and the '海のレシピproject' web media; (3) Client projects including EAT&LEAD for Mitsubishi Estate, Will Conscious Marunouchi women's health initiatives, Fujisawa OUR Project citizen engagement, and various restaurant/hospitality brand developments. The company operates primarily in Japan, with international presence through The days in Thailand.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The days: オリジナルオーガニックコーヒーブランド。タイ北部PU MUEN山の標高2200mで栽培されたアラビカ豆を使用し、福島県のOrdinary Coffee Roasterで焙煎。2017年にスタート
• Homeland
• stillwater select

Products and services

• Interview and Communication Design Consulting Structured consulting programs that use respectful, dialogue-oriented, and vision-oriented interview methodologies to identify and articulate brand values for corporations, organizations, and individual professionals. Programs span 1–3 months and cover identity development, product/brand/project development, and communication strategy.
• The Days Direct-to-consumer brand of USDA-organic Thai-sourced coffee (whole beans, ground, drip bags) and Asian lemonade (ASIANADE) made with Oita citrus and Vietnamese honey, including gift sets. Sold through stillwater's own e-commerce store with Japan-wide shipping.
• Homeland

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 700 participants across 7 seasons of '日々これ食卓' food program since 2013
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Fujisawa City / 安井・隈・戸田風景設計共同体minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Fujisawa City engaged stillwater as civic co-creation consultant for the OUR Project — the redevelopment of Fujisawa Civic Hall and surrounding public facilities. stillwater designs and facilitates the 'Design Dialogue' workshop series (3 sessions, targeting youth, mid-career adults, and parents) to gather citizen input for the 2031 facility opening. The basic design team includes YASUI Architecture, Kengo Kuma & Associates, and Toda Landscape Planning.
• CABO uehara Management (301inc)minorGTM or Marketing Partner · 1 January 2024CABO uehara is a neighborhood complex facility in Yoyogi-Uehara where stillwater's office is located (Unit 401). The CABO management team organizes monthly SUNDAY MARKET events in which stillwater participates as a vendor. stillwater's office also serves as an pickup point for The Days online store orders, creating synergies between the physical complex and e-commerce operations.
• Japan House Los AngelesminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Japan House LA (operated by Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs) engaged stillwater in 2022 to provide concept design, tableware curation, and producer coordination for UKA kaiseki restaurant within the Ovation Hollywood complex. stillwater selected Japanese artisans across ceramics, lacquerware, glass, metal, and wood categories and managed international shipping logistics. UKA subsequently received one Michelin star (California 2023, 2025).
• Japan Foundation 海と日本プロジェクト (Umi to Nihon Project)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2021The Japan Foundation commissioned stillwater in April 2021 to策划 and execute the '海のレシピproject' — a web magazine sharing stories and recipes about Japan's coastal regions to reconnect people with the sea. Over 3 years (2021-2024), stillwater produced 136 articles and 6 videos covering 36 regions, in partnership with Soup Stock Tokyo, various marine experts, and local producers. The project was funded by the Japan Foundation as part of its national ocean awareness initiative.
• Asp Lund Co., Ltd. (アスプルンド)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Asp Lund commissioned stillwater to develop the 'Homeland' kitchenware brand from scratch — a made-in-Japan product line connecting urban consumers with Japanese regional manufacturers. stillwater visited producers nationwide, facilitated co-development, and managed branding and communication design. The project ran from 2019 to May 2025 when the contract concluded.
• Ordinary Coffee Roaster (福島県須賀川市)minorOthers · 1 January 2017Ordinary Coffee Roaster in Sukagawa, Fukushima Prefecture, is the designated roaster for The Days Thai organic coffee brand. Green beans are shipped from Thailand to Japan and roasted by Ordinary Coffee according to The Days' specifications (medium and dark roast profiles). The roaster's founder Saito is featured on product pages providing flavor notes for each roast level.
• Kindo Bee Farm / 近藤養蜂場 (大分県)minorOthers · 1 January 2017Kindo Bee Farm in Oita Prefecture is the collaborative producer of The Days Asian Lemonade (ASIANADE). The product uses Oita citrus (kabusu), ginger, Vietnamese lychee honey from migratory beekeeping, and Japanese spices. Kindo Bee Farm and stillwater co-developed the recipe, with honey sourced from Vietnam and processed in Japan.
• Thai Organic Producers (Lisu & Lahu Tribes)minorOthers · 1 January 2017The Days brand sources Arabica coffee from PU MUEN mountain (2,200m elevation) in Northern Thailand, hand-picked by Lahu tribe farmers using pulp-dry natural processing. The brand also works with Lisu tribe artisans who hand-sew the coffee saccosh bags. These relationships enable The Days' supply chain authenticity and social impact narrative.
• Mitsubishi Estate Co., Ltd. (三菱地所株式会社)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Mitsubishi Estate commissioned stillwater in 2014 to serve as secretariat and branding partner for its food culture initiatives — first '食育丸の内' (later rebranded EAT&LEAD) and 'Will Conscious Marunouchi' women's health program. stillwater handles editorial planning, interview content, communication design, event programming, and chef casting. The partnership has continued for over 10 years and represents stillwater's flagship corporate consulting engagement.
• Club Hillside (代官山クラブヒルサイド)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2013Club Hillside in Daikanyama has been stillwater's longest-running co-program partner since 2013. Together they co-produce the '日々これ食卓' food program (7+ seasons, 40+ producer guests, 700+ participants), the '少女は本を読んで大人になる' reading club (3 seasons, 10+ authors as guests, published as a book), and various cultural salons. Club Hillside provides venue, members, and operational support while stillwater provides content programming and creative direction.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves9 records

Broad incumbents

• Pentagram: Largest independent global design agency with multi-partner model covering brand identity, editorial, and digital design. Comparable to stillwater's brand identity and communication design work at greater scale and with international reach.
• IDEO: Global design and innovation consultancy with broad portfolio across strategy, brand, and product design. Comparable to stillwater's dialogue-based consulting methodology at a much larger scale and broader geographic footprint, serving many of the same enterprise client categories.

Emerging players

• % Arabica: Japan-founded specialty coffee brand with vertically integrated sourcing and minimalist design-led positioning. Comparable to stillwater's The Days brand in craft specialty coffee DTC with strong Japanese aesthetic and origin-story storytelling.
• Blue Bottle Coffee: Premium DTC specialty coffee company with craft roasting and design-led brand experience. Comparable to stillwater's The Days in direct-to-consumer specialty coffee with attention to provenance, design, and curated retail experience.
• Onyx Coffee Lab: Specialty coffee roaster with strong direct-to-consumer e-commerce, design-forward branding, and competition-level coffee quality. Comparable to stillwater's The Days in craft coffee positioning with emphasis on storytelling, design, and premium pricing.

Direct peers

• Sandwich: Tokyo creative agency producing integrated branding, video, and digital experiences for corporate and cultural clients. Comparable to stillwater's communication-design consulting model and community-event-driven brand-building approach.
• Good Design Company: Tokyo creative and branding studio known for lifestyle, hospitality, and food-craft clients. Comparable in producing editorial-quality brand expression for Japanese lifestyle and food brands, similar to stillwater's work with Soup Stock Tokyo, Restaurant UKA, and Gtalia Group.
• Drill Design: Japanese design and branding firm specializing in consumer brand identity, packaging, and visual systems. Comparable in combining narrative-driven brand development with product output (similar to stillwater's Homeland and The Days sub-brands).
• WOW Inc. Tokyo-headquartered visual design and creative direction firm working across branding, spatial, and digital projects. Comparable multi-disciplinary Japanese creative agency serving corporate, cultural, and lifestyle clients similar to stillwater's Mitsubishi Estate and Japan House engagements.
• Takram: Tokyo-based design innovation firm combining strategic consulting with tangible product and experience design. Closely comparable to stillwater in combining creative consulting with curated consumer-facing outputs and Japanese cross-disciplinary talent.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses6 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/stillwaterworks
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/stillwater

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Stillwater