Suruga lacquerware is made using a variety of materials and lacquering techniques and is particularly known for its use of the "kawarinuri" technique, or varied layering. Shizuoka's temperature and humidity are ideal for lacquering, and the large number of highly skilled craftsmen made kawarinuri possible.

Suruga lacquerware is also known for its use of “makie,” a technique in which a pattern is drawn with lacquer, and then sprinkled with gold, silver, tin, or colored powder before it dries. The history of makie dates back to the Nara period, when swords in the Shosoin Repository were decorated with makie. It is said that the use of makie in Suruga lacquermaking can be traced back to 1828, when a lacquer artist living in Sunpu, Nakagawa Senzo, learned makie techniques from Tenryo, a painter from Shinshu, and began incorporating makie of flowers, birds, plants, and other elements into lacquerware, doll utensils, and tea ceremony utensils.