My friends at Sugatsune America Inc. opened their doors in the United States in 1982—and now, their 40-year anniversary of selling hardware and doing business in America is upon us. I thought I'd share with you my personal history and experience with the company I’ve come to love.

I discovered Sugatsune hardware nearly 15 years ago. I was in the process of building a home and had good carpenters working for me, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with the hardware throughout the new build. The usual barrel-style hardware solutions would have worked for this project—but there were several downsides to using them. One major factor was that the hardware wasn't very adjustable, so it had to be installed perfectly the first time. Given that houses typically have a little bit of movement and settling over time, I was concerned that I’d be making minor adjustments, possibly well into the future.

When I ran across the Sugatsune HES3DE190 and reviewed the spec sheet, I knew this was exactly the hardware I needed. Sugatsune’s product lines are not inexpensive. However, they are well designed and manufactured, and of course, priced accordingly. What was so different about Sugatsune was that they had virtually everything that was missing from the hardware that I'd used in the past in terms of finish quality, size of door that could be handled, load capacity, and, especially, adjustment. These hinges were adjustable, up, down, right, left, and out.

Over the course of the next 15 years, I expanded my use of Sugatsune products and my efforts in making sure the building industry was aware of their solutions. One particular video that I created at the onset of my YouTube Channel, in which I used Sugatsune hinge hardware for a house of hidden doors, received nearly three million views. The use of hidden doors is a favorite touch for me, and I’ve always used Sugatsune’s solutions to bring them to life.

Sugatsune is continually adding solutions to the catalogue. For example, they now have some hardware that easily handles pushing open a very heavy door. I even discovered at one of the International Builder Shows years ago that they had a soft close version of bar top hardware. As a child I remember worrying that our bar-top would cut my fingers off as it always slammed down hard on the countertop. They’ve also leveraged the technology used for soft-close toilet seats to include cabinet mechanisms. A fun fact is that Sugatsune’s hinges were used in the Atari tabletop edition of Space Invaders!

It's these kinds of innovations, forward thinking and really solid hardware that continue to set Sugatsune apart. They’ve achieved great success in the United States, so far. To my friends at Sugatsune, let’s have another 40 great years together!