Hand-Turned Pepper Mill

Wood-turned pepper mill · One of a kind · Nagano, Japan

Born from an obsession with pepper
Shohei Uchiyama has been making furniture and wooden fixtures in Nagano for years. His pepper mill came later — not as a product idea, but as a personal necessity. After trying every mill he could find and never being fully satisfied, he decided to make his own. That first mill, built for his own kitchen, became the beginning of a catalog that now spans over 300 designs.

The aroma releases the moment you grind

Turned one at a time on a wood lathe
Every mill is shaped on a lathe — the same tool Shohei uses for furniture legs and architectural joinery. He works with over 20 species of wood: cherry, oak, walnut, and others, each chosen for its color, grain, and the way it responds to the lathe. Because the wood is natural and the turning is done by hand, each piece has its own character. The form you receive is the only one of its kind.

Turned one by one on a wood lathe

The names are part of it
Each design is named by Shohei's wife Mirai — carrot, eggplant, vase, kokeshi doll — after the silhouettes the forms suggest. She also handles assembly. The mills are a collaboration: his obsession with form and grind, her eye for what each shape becomes.

A selection of designs available at By Emotion

A grind mechanism chosen by a professional obsessive
The grinding mechanism matters as much as the wood. Shohei tested many before choosing IKEDA — a domestic Japanese manufacturer whose cast-iron burrs are used by professional chefs. He wrote them what he called "a love letter" asking to use their mechanism in his mills. The cast-iron burr is adjustable: tighten the top screw for a fine powder, loosen it for a coarse crack. The resistance when you grind — that particular sound and feel — is part of why people keep reaching for it.

Grinding mechanism by IKEDA — adjustable coarseness

What pepper actually goes with
Shohei and Mirai use pepper on more than the obvious. A few combinations they recommend trying:

Natto × pepper × olive oil
An unexpected pairing that somehow works — the pepper cuts through the fermented richness and the olive oil ties it together.

Beer × pepper
A few cracks of pepper over a cold glass sharpens the flavor. They say it makes the beer taste less flat and more interesting all the way to the bottom.

Hot milk × pepper
Closer to a light soup than a drink. Warming, slightly spiced, and more satisfying than it sounds.

The story behind the obsession
It started with a bowl of ramen.

"There was a ramen shop near where I grew up that had this green onion ramen absolutely buried in pepper. The first time I had it, something just opened up in me. I went deep into pepper from there — buying every mill I could find, comparing them. Eventually I thought: I work with wood, I can just make my own."
— Shohei Uchiyama, maker

Every design is drawn before production begins

Every design starts as a drawing
Shohei draws every form before he turns it. Different wood species require different lathe speeds, different tool pressures, different drying times — so each design is tuned to the material. Over 300 designs have come out of this process so far, and the work is still evolving.

"Wood species vary in hardness, which affects how fast the lathe wears and how the piece responds to cutting. I adjust my approach for each one."
— Shohei Uchiyama, maker

Within two years of making mills for others, Kōgu Yamani began attracting attention from design-conscious select shops. The catalog keeps growing — not because of a strategy, but because Shohei hasn't gotten bored yet.

"A lot of it comes from the fact that I'm genuinely enjoying it — it started as a hobby extension and I haven't stopped finding it interesting. People tell me the work has changed even in two years. I'm curious to see where it goes."
— Shohei Uchiyama, maker

Warm grain, distinctive presence