NANAO, Ishikawa Prefecture—U.S. engineer Jonathan Knight spent five years perfecting his fusion of audio gear and Wajima lacquerware here.

Hailing from Florida, Knight, 58, loves listening to music. He founded his artisanal audio device business Hachidori Inc. in Nanao in 2018.

Knight relocated to Nanao with the dream of creating an amp that would appeal to the luxury consumers and hardcore audiophiles overseas.

The completed preamplifier boosts the electric signals of classic LP vinyl records and open-reel tapes, creating a soft and rich listening experience.

Knight particularly devoted his energy to incorporating vacuum tubes into his analog equipment despite amplifiers using such components rarely being found in today’s market.

After launching Hachidori, he formed a regional coalition with the Chubei Nakashima Lacquerware Store in Wajima and Age Design Co. in Kanazawa.

With a lacquerware supplier and design firm, development began.

Their first product was finished in November last year.

Knight explained that the simplified appearance of the preamplifier was inspired by “the philosophy of Zen Buddhism.”

“I pursued a way to reproduce Japanesque factors well,” said Knight.

He wanted the preamp to embody the Zen aesthetic by stripping away all unnecessary features to evoke a sense of serenity.

Measuring 46 centimeter long, 37 cm wide and 18 cm tall, the preamplifier is embedded in a case built of thick veneer plywood panels painstakingly treated with lacquer.

A hummingbird hovering near a gramophone, as though it were a flower, is the company’s logo and was painted with colored powder using a traditional “makie” technique.

The company’s namesake originates with the avian species known as “hachidori” in Japanese.

Knight’s connection and interest in Japan began at an early age. His father remarried a Japanese woman, and Knight also noticed many audio devices around him were from Japan.

With a cathode-ray tube TV set and a transistor radio among them, Knight was naturally attracted to high-performance analog electronics. He went on to specialize in electrical engineering at college and graduate school, with a particular focus in analog circuit design.

After graduate school, Knight arrived in Japan for the first time in 1990. He found a corporate job translating Japan’s specialized magazines into English and later worked as an engineer for a semiconductor manufacturer.

After 25 years, Knight returned to the United States in 2015. However, he quickly saw there was “strong discrimination against gender and race” at his new workplace. On top of that, he could “not get along with my boss.”

That was enough to convince him to put down roots in Japan since he was already familiar with the Asian nation. Nanao was not a random choice—the municipality sits along the sea like Florida does.

Another reason for Knight’s determination to live there lay in Nanao being close to where Wajima lacquerware was produced. He had been enchanted with the traditional craftsmanship since his 20s.

Knight purchased a 150-year-old home with a floor space of a staggering 350 square meters. He set up a studio and an audio room within.

His residence was partially damaged in the magnitude-7.6 earthquake that wreaked havoc across the Noto Peninsula on New Year’s Day, but his equipment and tools remained safe.

The Chubei Nakashima Lacquerware Store has also resumed operations, and Knight is currently planning to release 10 or so preamps a year from here on out.

Named Fukami for the town in Nanao, the sleek creation carries a price tag of 9 million yen ($59,600).

Back in May, Fukami was highly lauded at an international acoustic device fair in Munich, Germany, that propelled Knight into closing sales contracts with dealers from Hong Kong and the United States.

Knight intends to further expand his sales network primarily in Europe, North America and Hong Kong from now.

“I want to convey the attraction of Wajima lacquerware to the rest of the world while showing off the Noto Peninsula’s recovery from the quake disaster at the same time,” said Knight.

For orders and inquiries for the preamplifier, visit Hachidori’s website at (https://www.hachidori-onkyo.com/).