Two brothers transformed their family's struggling business into a global company

When they were children, Kuni and Tomo Hijikata knew that their family business was worth fighting for. Founded in Nagoya, Japan back in 1936, the Hijikata family's casting iron foundry was renowned for its extreme accuracy. But by the early aughts, the foundry's future was at risk. Being the inheritors of the long-running company, Kuni and Tomo knew that it was their responsibility to keep their cast iron craft intact.

The two brothers were employed at Toyota as well as Toyota Tsusho however, they saw a potential in the design of cast iron cookware meant to endure generations. the brothers quit their full-time jobs to go all-in on saving the family company. The brothers were trained at the bottom of the foundry as artisans before launching the company in 2010. Vermicular was created. Their first cast iron pot was introduced to the market, demand racked up a whopping 15 months of backorders, which was fueled by enthusiastic word of mouth.

A decade later, the Vermicular team has set their sights on global expansion, now offering their products in China, the U.S., China, and beyond. To better communicate the worth of their cookware to emerging markets around the world, Vermicular has invested heavily in the creation of videos that promote their products. "Without the videos we'd be having a harder time expanding our business," says Mark Hayashi who is Vermicular's Chief of U.S. Office. We spoke with Kuni, Tomo, and Mark to learn more about Vermicular's plan to go global with video. Check out their video above, as well as read their full interview below.

"We often consider our video assets to become an extension of our company's brand and our products. Video is always more efficient than just the written word. And this is true especially in the realm of cooking."   Mark Hayashi, Vermicular's Head of the U.S. Office

 What was the process behind this product?

Tomo: "I thought that we could utilize our company's experience in casting iron to design enameled cast iron containers that have lids perfectly fitted. But there was no precedent for that process in Japan. We knew then that we'd need to invent this process ourselves.

To learn everything we could, Kuni and I sat on the floor of the foundry. Kuni was a skilled casting crafter and I became a precision equipment master. It took us three years, and 10,000 times to create a prototype which met our expectations."

 What was the procedure for creating your brand's image in Japan?

Mark: "Brand storytelling has always been at the core of our communications and marketing strategies. Telling stories of our unique history and commitment to craftsmanship resonated with our audience and allowed us to connect with our customers on a more personal and deeper level.

The first step was to create videos that reflected our mission statement for our brand. If we are creating a branding story video, or how to-create product videos We make sure that they reflect our values and who we are. In the beginning, we did not focus too heavily on sales in the short term rather, we focused on increasing customer satisfaction from a long-term standpoint."

 What was your most difficult obstacle in building the Vermicular brand outside of Japan?

Mark: "Our biggest challenge was the language barrier. Since the launch of Vermicular in 2010, we've had a lot of challenges. Vermicular brand in 2010, we've established a solid brand presence in Japan but none of that was transferred to outside Japan. We literally had to start building the Vermicular brand from scratch, this was difficult and took extensive preparatory work prior to launch."

 Which was your first investment when looking to build the international recognition of your brand?

 Your branded content is obviously gorgeous. How have you achieved this level of quality?

Mark: "We collaborated with the branding agency for the brand video and spent a lot of time discussing the overall look and feel' of lighting, casting and wardrobe and food design. We also spent quite some time going back and forth on crafting video storyboards that became the primary guideline throughout the whole process, which included the shoot days.

With so many people involved during the shooting, there are the possibility of unexpected setbacks, which can result in delays at the onset. Having a solid storyboard with a thorough shoot schedule helps establish the right expectations and help guide all involved in the shoot to follow the similar direction. The storyboards did not just serve as a clear map of our hectic shoot days, it also helped us get through post-production issues. It's especially important for smaller brands who have limited funds."

 Where are you investing your money to produce while you expand?

Mark: "Our hypothesis was creating a product video along with a how-to-video series would help our customers enjoy the maximum capabilities of our induction cookware. As stated in our brand mission, our goal doesn't come to an end once customers have made a purchase of our cookware.

We want to see our customers love cooking using Vermicular cookware for as long as feasible. We've seen clear outcomes from these how-to-videos as they not only help educate the homeowners but also assist shoppers to get a better grasp of how to use the cooker."

 Has video assisted in building the name of Vermicular worldwide?

Mark: "Definitely! Many. We always consider our videos to be an extension of our brand as well as our product. We may not have the biggest budget, but we spend many hours trying to find the structure and narrative of our videos to are most effective in telling our story. Visuals always work better than the written word which is especially relevant in the field of cooking."

 What is the reason why we utilize HTML0 for hosting and embedding your video?

Mark: "We prefer for many reasons, the primary being the customizable options for embedding video. It is clutter-free and free of ads. provides seamless user experience across the website , and also protects the 'touch and feel' of our name.

Also, it allows us to share the drafts of our content between teams in both the U.S. and Japan, so it's easy to get feedback even if you're thousands of miles apart."

 What's the next step to be the next step for Vermicular?

Kuni: "More innovative products are on the way and we will be expanding our product offerings in the U.S. and across various Asian nations."

Mark: "We are currently planning our video content strategy that includes everything from brand-name videos with various chefs and farms to product explanation videos and how-to-videos that are going to be our most valuable assets in the years ahead."