Fuji
We’re very excited to present the Fuji, a pocket rocket that’s smooth, fluid and a perfect everyday companion.
It’s part of a three-model series, that serves as our love letter to Japanese culture and design philosophy.
SPECS
Diameter 52.7mm
Width 45.9mm
Weight 66.5g
Material 7068 AL & SS
Over the past five years of our existence, Japanese design philosophy has been a core pillar of inspiration and reference of what we do at Atmos Projects. In the early 2010s, before Atmos’ inception, we spent a significant amount of time in the suburbs of Kyoto. This season of life was extremely immersive, and sparked a young and early passion for design and making. Our time there gave us a vision and appreciation for design that is subtle and restrained, highly attentive to form, and yet joyous and relentlessly practical in the way they take shape in the world. This extended to an appreciation for fabrics and materials, even in other spheres such as pottery, construction, and architecture. Our experience did not give us an aesthetic to emulate, but rather convictions and values that resonated deeply with our own process of making.
In fewer words, our approach to design and making has been centred around an obsessive care surrounding the form of an object (teinei / 丁寧), minimalism and restraint (shibumi / 渋い and kanso / 簡素), everyday-ness (yo no bi / 用の美), and joy (tanoshisa / 楽しさ). The Fuji and the other two unreleased designs were designed to represent all of that.
We started on the Fuji design project in 2022, and made a first round of prototypes in 2023. It originally began as a Side Effects-enabled bimetal, and went through two iterations without the SE system. These were bimetal designs made with brass rims for maximum rim weight, with the hope it would push boundaries in terms of technical performance — our focus at the time.
Images of these prototypes have surfaced on the Internet, and Fuji prototypes have also been in circulation after we gave them away through our membership, SPHERE. Unfortunately, the initial prototypes didn’t meet the mark, conceptually, or technically. It didn’t capture the essence of Fuji that we hoped for, despite early promising feedback. Despite being far into development, the Fuji was benched for some time. We were clear we needed fresh insight and new inspiration to take the design where it needed to go.
Then, in 2025, we launched System_Refresh° on SPHERE — an internal design initiative to look at old designs or previously shelved projects, and the Fuji was top of the list of design projects that quite obviously deserved a fresh look.
We departed from the old approach of a heavier, thinner and more aggressive design to something smaller and wider — the current Fuji proportions are relaxed and comfortable, from an ergonomic perspective. Instead of pushing hard for a maximalist, performance-oriented design, our refreshed approach was to create something easy, comfortable, and appropriate for the everyday.
The walls take reference from the topological lines of the Weatherman profile, but the cup is a simple and minimalist arc that hides a weight distribution tuned for power. The understated exterior hides an oversized capability — the very restraint in design we previously referenced. To that end, we refrained from unnecessary angles and lines, keeping the form as clean as possible. Some designs shout, but we wanted the Fuji to exist quietly, and assuredly in what it was made to be.
The Fuji’s playfeel was where we wanted to most establish its essence of yo no bi / 用の美 — or, in the way we understand it, it’s everydayness. We wanted it pocketable, easy to toss in your bag and to bring around without second thought — but still retained a surprising seriousness in its performance. It had to be capable and fun, yet not fatiguing. Bimetals can sometimes feel either heavy and muddy, or conversely thin and sparse, depending on the design approach taken by its makers.
The Fuji leans towards a grounded, smooth and fluid feel. Its thick stainless steel rims give it sufficient power at its smaller size, but its intentional weight distribution mechanics preserve its fluidness in motion so it neither feels plodding and clumsy, nor sparse and thin.
It handles softly and gently, and gives you all the control you want and need.
The Fuji was built as a representation of our design philosophies and approach, which has evolved and been refined over the past half decade. There’s an obvious evolution if you trace our early work to what we do today — but there is also a clear line of what is worthy, unique and joyous design that runs across our body of work.
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The Fuji is equipped with
Stratos Pads by Atmos
Type II Concave Bearings by Atmos
CloudWeave Micro by Atmos
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september 2025
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