ChiaoGoo

ChiaoGoo means 'highly skillful and crafty lady'. She was the mother of the four brothers who founded the company – a knitter who kept a family of seven warm through long winters, sold what was left over to neighbours, and tested every needle the family made.

Her husband built a bamboo needle workshop in the early 1980s. His father before him travelled from town to town with a bamboo tool kit, making chairs, baskets, rice barrels and steamers. In 2005 the four sons incorporated it properly: made in Hangzhou, distributed from Troy, Michigan.

Two things they do that nobody else bothers with. Three different join diameters, because one join can't serve a 1.5mm needle and a 10mm one equally well. And the honey colour on the bamboo isn't stain or varnish – it's heat.