Entoten LLC, an online blog and gallery located in San Diego, California is owned and operated by Ai Kanazawa. Through Entoten, Ai introduces and promotes the beauty of craft that can be utilized in everyday life. Ai believes that the connections between people and cultures can be deepened through the language of craft because they represent our collective traditions that transcend national borders.
Ai was born in Japan and grew up in Singapore. She has also lived in Canada, Hong Kong, and the U.K. She is fluent in Japanese and English, and graduated from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, with a B.A. in Comparative Culture. With her language skills and deep reservoir of intercultural knowledge, she has worked as a human resources and public relations executive for Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and as an assistant to the Energy Counselor at the British Embassy in Tokyo.
The word Entoten means “circle and dot” in Japanese. The beautiful objects and the stories found on our website represent the many dots that are joined together to make up a circle. In Japanese culture, an enso or a circle symbolizes the state of perfect balance: its simple shape depicts qualities like void and form, perfection and imperfection, which are opposing yet inherent qualities in our natural surroundings.
