TSUNAN SAKE BREWERY Explores Sustainable Partnership with Indonesian Startup Bell Living Lab

JETRO interviewed TSUNAN SAKE BREWERY in Niigata Prefecture, and Bell Living Lab (officially PT. Kurva Lonceng Khatulistiwa), a startup based in Bandung, Indonesia, on July 30 regarding the outlook and expectations for their collaboration. In February 2026, the two companies reached an agreement on initiatives including leveraging TSUNAN SAKE BREWERY’s sake lees as a culture medium (Note 1) and exploring the possibility of introducing Bell Living Lab’s sustainable materials into the Japanese market.

In addition to producing and selling sake, TSUNAN SAKE BREWERY is engaged in its "Sake Upcycle Project," which repurposes sake lees as a raw material for products ranging from food and cosmetics to agricultural supplies. Representative Director Kengo Suzuki has expressed his intention to explore new applications for fermentation technology and sake lees with corporate partners. Speaking to JETRO, he stated, "Rather than simply selling sake, we aim to create new business opportunities and contribute to solving social issues by commercializing brewing by-products, starting with sake lees. As times change, the role expected of sake breweries is also changing. Besides securing profits, contributing to the preservation of the global environment and the realization of a sustainable society may well be an important mission for traditional industries such as sake brewing."

Bell Living Lab is a startup originating from the Bandung Institute of Technology, founded in 2020. Utilizing waste such as coffee pulp (Note 2) and coffee grounds (Note 3) as raw materials, the company has developed "M-Tex," a leather alternative created via microbial fermentation, and sells products from fashion items including bags to furniture, made from the material. Arka Irfani, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), stated that the company focused on coffee because its waste offered the most stable quality among the various raw materials tested. Furthermore, the project carries a significant social impact in Indonesia, a major coffee producer. He added that the company aims to contribute to preserving the global environment, explaining that coffee-derived waste becomes a source of methane—a type of greenhouse gas—during decomposition if it is not properly treated.

TSUNAN SAKE BREWERY and Bell Living Lab first connected at a startup event held in Indonesia in July 2025. Suzuki of TSUNAN SAKE BREWERY cited the affinity with the stability of Bell Living Lab's coffee-derived waste volume and quality, along with their technology in fermentation and microbial control, as the key reasons for focusing on the startup. Through this collaboration, Suzuki emphasized his vision to “create products born from sake breweries that can be recognized on the global stage.” Meanwhile, Bell Living Lab aims to improve the production speed and stabilize the quality of M-Tex through its partnership with TSUNAN SAKE BREWERY, while using it as a springboard to enter the Japanese market.

(Kosuke Hiramatsu)
(Indonesia, Japan)