A Minute With: Hisashi Tokuyoshi and Fumie ­Shimoji, founders of édition Paumes

The husband-and-wife team produce books that celebrate creative European interiors, with their largest audience in a country where space is more utilitarian than creative.

Fumie Shimoji and Hisashi Tokuyoshi, the team behind the publishing house.

We live in a

residential area of Tokyo. Our commute to the office is only 30 minutes by train, so it's not too bad.

We love this city because there are so many parks, great shops and interesting places to visit, but the most lovely thing about it is the calm character of the Japanese people who live here.

After the earthquake and tsunami disasters last March, there were far fewer foreign tourists here, but Japanese people have a deep kindness and a strong, dignified character, which never changes and is never broken, even in the face of such adversity.

Our home is

a really eclectic mix. We've visited so many stunning homes in Paris, London and other northern European cities, and we always find lots of ideas when we're on our travels.

We visit flea markets whenever we're abroad shooting photos for our books and pick up bits and bobs. But living with children and a dog means that sometimes our precious finds get broken!

We're huge fans

of vintage homewares. An object that's been handed down through the generations and has a history is always fascinating. We like to fill our home with second-hand treasures and artwork that children create - all kids are little artists. A house full of modern things just feels like a show room to us.

The word "home"

conjures up many thoughts in our minds, but more than anything, it means a space for family.

We admire the work

of many designers in the world, but the most important for us is the French studio, Tsé & Tsé Associées. Their stylish products and fresh outlook have inspired a whole generation of young female Japanese creatives.

In the 1990s,

after we got married, we went to live in Paris. We fell in love with the culture there and befriended lots of designers, including Tsé & Tsé, Herve Tullet and Maison Georgette.

When we returned to Japan in 1997, we became agents for a few of those designers. It was this enriching collaboration that gave us the idea for the first édition Paumes book, a photographic showcase to celebrate the designers in their creative working and living environments.

Today, we have a team

of seven and have published more than 40 books. We're still producing new titles and connecting young creatives all over the world.

We sell more books

in Japan than anywhere else. Compared to the Japanese way of life, Europeans seem much freer. They have the space to create original interiors.

In Japan, there are so many rules and regulations. For example, tenants aren't allowed to paint their rented apartments, or make holes in the walls to hang things up. So Japanese people love to see inside creative homes.

The way we work

is very organic. Most of the homes and designers we feature are friends of friends of friends. We meet one interesting person and a whole network opens up. Sometimes, while we're working on one book, a home can trigger the idea for our next book.

The easiest way

to update a space is to go travelling. Going abroad gives you lots of new ideas for updating and refreshing your decor.

When you're redecorating,

imagine that you're looking at your room through the lens of a camera. That can help you to focus and make better decisions.

Sometimes it helps to think of your room as a theatrical stage. Find the leading part and the supporting parts and get the balance right, and your interior will work.

When we photograph

a home or a studio, our aim is to reflect the reality we find. We don't style the shots at all or rearrange any furniture. We prefer to leave the rooms exactly as they are. Real spaces are much more interesting than artificial scenes.

Our work isn't done yet.

There are a lot of countries where we would like to make books in the future and lots of young designers out there for us to meet. This year, we might even make more books that introduce others to Japanese lifestyles and interiors featuring designers from Tokyo and Kyoto.

The people who inspire us are undiscovered up-and-coming creatives, those youngsters who are not yet famous but who are doing wonderful things and dreaming of the future.

For more information, visit www.paumes.com. To buy édition Paumes books online, visit www.paumes.com/book-e/book-e-booklist.html