AURUM was born from a simple conviction: that the camera should disappear between you and your subject. That every dial, every click, every gram should serve a single purpose — capturing the image exactly as you envisioned it.
Founded in 2012 by optical engineer Kenji Nakamura and industrial designer Yuki Tanaka, AURUM set out to challenge the notion that digital cameras had become disposable commodities. In an era of software-driven feature bloat, they believed the hardware itself deserved the same reverence as the images it produced.
Working from a converted machiya in Kyoto's Higashiyama ward, Nakamura and Tanaka spent eighteen months designing the first AURUM prototype. Every component — from the custom shutter mechanism to the hand-polished magnesium chassis — was specified for a single purpose: optical precision. The result was the AURUM Type-1, a 24MP full-frame camera that reviewers called "the most tactile digital camera ever made."
Today, AURUM employs 140 engineers, designers, and technicians across our Kyoto headquarters and satellite office in Munich. Every camera is still assembled by hand in Japan, and each body undergoes a 47-point inspection before it leaves our workshop. We remain independent, privately held, and uncompromisingly focused on one thing: building the finest tools for visual storytelling.
