Canopy Komorebi Design Notes

Designed in collaboration with Kazuki Morii, founder of Aufheben, the Komorebi is the third model in the Canopy Regional Series. Named after the Japanese word describing the way sunlight filters through the leaves of trees, Komorebi is inspired by the moments of light that appear between the canopy.

What follows is Kazuki's account of how it came together.

The concept of the project was to collaborate with designers from different regions and express the unique atmosphere of each local scene. However, by that point I had already moved away from the highly competition-focused mindset that many players in Japan aim for.

Because of that, simply matching the local scene didn't necessarily align with my own philosophy, and I didn't feel it was right for me to design another competitive yo-yo for this project.

Although Canopy Collection began as a collaboration between Caribou Lodge, Atmos Projects, and Spinkult, the creative direction was largely driven by Harrison and Coleman. Instead of making a competitive model, I decided to build my ideas around the image and influence those two had on me.

I started playing yo-yo in the summer of 2012. While many of my friends were focused on competition yo-yo, I naturally gravitated toward the international community instead.

I think part of that came from the fact that I had grown up knowing Hyper Yo-Yo 1998, so I always had the impression that yo-yos were something that came from overseas.

In 2013, I became fascinated by the Caribou Lodge team, and my interest in the international scene grew even stronger. Around that time, Ayumu Harada — someone I often saw at my local yo-yo meeting — joined Caribou Lodge, which made the brand feel even closer to me.

Komorebi draws heavy inspiration from yo-yos made between 2013 and 2015. It incorporates many design elements from that era: the stepped rim of the BvM2, a shape Harrison and I both enjoyed, Caribou Lodge's signature bump, pronounced edge lines, and a flat rim — a feature that's much less common today.

These elements were carefully balanced to create a yo-yo that feels both easy to control and visually distinctive.

The gap width is also intentional. Since many Japanese designs tend to use narrower gaps while many overseas brands favor wider ones, I chose a middle ground that performs well with a wide variety of string types.

My design process usually starts by defining the core concept of a yo-yo — its feel, power, control, and size. From there, I build out the details around that foundation.

When I work on a signature model, my goal isn't simply to make the yo-yo the player says they want. Instead, I try to dig deeper and uncover what they're really looking for, even if they haven't realized it themselves.

For Komorebi, I started with the data from the Canopy AL, then built around the BvM2's signature characteristics: its stepped rim, compact body, and precise control.

I imagined the kind of yo-yo that both my past self and other players would have loved to have back then.