A LOCATION FOR INNOVATION

All design is a product of its environment, and Koya Snowcraft comes to from the North Japan Alps, driven by constantly examining out interaction with the terrain of the Hakuba Valley. From the shapes to the materials used, everything is intentionally designed to make your time on snow better.

Image showing the Hakuba mountains and the location of the Koya Snowcraft custom snowboard workshop

What is KOYA SNOWCRAFT?

Koya Snowcraft is a small workshop in Hakuba, Japan, handcrafting snowboards with locally sourced materials here in the heart of the Hakuba Valley. 

Why the name KOYA? A ‘koya’ ( 小屋 ) is a shed, a cabin or a hut. A place where ideas start and DIY creations take shape. Like many people, shaping started in the shed. The dream of making handmade snowboards in Hakuba began in around 2016, driven by a desire to create shapes inspired by the local environment, using local materials. The new Koya workshop is making this vision a reality in Hakuba.

The Koya Snowcraft handmade snowboard factory workshop in the trees just below Hakuba Goryu resort.
Koya snowcraft started n a shed, like most DIY snowboard making!

SUSTAINABILITY & CRAFTSMANSHIP

Our goal is to always source as many materials as possible locally, working with local sawmills to find the best wood for our cores. This enables us to be hands on with the wood selection at every step of the way for the best quality, and at the same time supporting local economies and reducing the product miles and carbon footprint of our snowboards.

Stacks of local Hakuba wood, sourcing handmade snowboard core wood for Koya Snowcraft
Local tress in Hakuba Valley sawmill as we hunt for sustainable snowboard core materials

We make all our own cores by hand, mixing the flex, strength and weight characteristics of Hinoki ( Japanese Cypress, 檜 Chamaecyparis obtusa ) with hand-selected custom stringers of Karamatsu (Japanese Larch 唐松 Larix kaempferi ), Nara ( Japanese Oak ナラ Quercoideae ) and Tamo (Japanese Ash タモ Fraxinus lanuginosa )  enables us to custom-make our own wood cores for fine-tuned response.

SHAPED BY HAKUBA, FOR HAKUBA, IN HAKUBA

Experience on the snow and time in the mountains drives innovation. Our workshop factory is only 400m from the bottom of Hakuba Goryu resort. Being a few minutes from the snow enables quick testing of new ideas, rapid prototyping, and fine-tuning of new shapes and constructions. The small scale of our project means we can play with new ideas and listen to the needs of individual riders. Hakuba is more than just a winter resort, and being lifelong snowboarders and skateboarders – as well as year-round Hakuba residents – we can turn this design focus onto tools of fun for the green season too. Stay tuned…

handmade snowboard cores in the Koya Snowcraft workshop in Hakuba