feature

a zine of design December 2010.

#0

01

PURE WATER DESIGN

Jin Kuramoto

Yasuhiro Suzuki

Hironao Tsuboi

Kotaro Watanabe

Hideyuki Nakayama

NOSIGNER

MILE

Nick Renni

Jiro Hirano

Masakatsu Takagi 素水的清流意匠

There are many things that Japan has lost or left behind through industrialization. For instance, look at agriculture. Japan has been obsessed with increasing efficiency and exporting industrial productions, even over the basic need to grow their own food. So now Japan lost ties to food produce, and have to import a lot of foodstuffs. The fact that traditional Japanese manufacture (monozukuri) was strongly tied to craft at its roots has been lost. People have long created their own tools to support everyday life. But we forgot this origin since we started to rely on machine production. I have been featuring agriculture in my design produce work to revisit such fundamental issues. At this year's BODW, we plan to use an old police station in Hong Kong for our "Detour" exhibit. Illegal immigrants or refugees used to be locked up in this station. But consider what they did. If these people had done the same things under a different social paradigm, they would not have been accused for their actions. As a designer, I would like to move away a little from design for business and cover fundamental issues such as ﾒwhat is sin?ﾓ, and explore the connection between ethics and aesthetics. Also from Japan, we are presenting art work under the theme ﾒpure water designﾓ. In traditional Japanese hamlets, shrines were established near clear water springs, and the surroundings were designated as the groves of the shrine. This tradition is more animism, worship of nature than religion. I would like to revisit the source of Japanese thought, and bring out a flow to the future. Japan could be seen as a showcase of what was ﾒLost & Foundﾓ, or the good and bad aspects of rapid industrialization. This is because what Japan struggles with today is also becoming a great global challenge. It is high time to revisit such fundamental themes and to find a solution. New concept designs or social designs, designs that have philosophy and aesthetic conscience are needed today more than ever. I look forward to presenting designs with a vision, or designs with futuristic views or future aspirations at BODW. Such designs would question once more what has been forgotten through the evolution of civilization, and promote cultural profoundness opposed to industrial progress.

How can design save the world so deeply confused?

Resolution can only be found when design asks fundamental questions such as:

What is sin, what is beauty? What is evil and what is justice?

Design has never needed to ask such essential questions more than today.

Has Japanese design forgotten to provide such fundamental aspects?

Teruo Kurosaki (design producer)

Lost & Found 黒崎輝男（デザインプロデューサー）

混迷を深める世界を、デザインは救えるのか？

それは根本的な問いかけができるかにかかっている。

何が罪で、何が美なのか、何を悪と言い、何を正義と言うのか？

本質的に問いかけるデザインが必要とされている。

日本のデザインは根本的な問いかけを忘れてはいないか？

水

Water is deep, quiet, and transparent. It exists as the basis of all life.

Water is as deeply tied to our culture as it is to our physical bodies,

so deeply tied that the two cannot be separated.

Tied so closely to mankind, water should be kept clean and pure.

(Jiro Hirano)

水は深く静かに透明に、生＝LIFEのベースに存在している。私たちの文化もフィジカルなボディ同様、水と深いところで結びついていて切り離す事ができない。 その水がとても綺麗なものでありますように。（平野治朗）

今回出展するデザイナーと他のデザイナーとの違いは、今まで絶対的なモノがあり、目的物的なみられ方をしてきたデザインを彼らはあまり求めていないということ。

環境を作るための変数に作用するものを組み込んで行くアプローチをしている気がします。（中山秀之）

The difference between design-

ers who will display their works

at this exhibition and other de-

signers is that the former do

not wish that much to create

designs that are seen as objects.

Up to now, there were things

that were absolute. I have the

feeling that the former is taking

an approach in which they are

incorporating elements that act

on variables used for creating an

environment.

(Hideyuki Nakayama)

hope to express some sensitivity

that does not exactly fit in the

framework of design.

One item on display, “The Mirror of

Truth,” reveals the mystery of

people as living creatures, and for

me personally it was the occasion

for something new.

(Hironao Tsuboi)

We’d like to show MILE’s unique

perspective, as it were, our brains

(inside our brains), while mutually

making the most of one another

unhampered by the design of the

form.(MILE)

デザインという枠組みに収まりきれない感性の表現をしていきたい。今回展示する作品「真実の鏡」では人間という生き物の不可思議さを見せることが出来たような気がしますし、自分の新たなきっかけとなる作品。（坪井浩尚）

活動自体が水に近い有機的な動きをしているので、 形のデザインだけに囚われず、互いに活かし合いながら独自の視点、脳（頭の中）を見せていきたい。（MILE）

There is no sub-

stance as close to

us human beings

as water. Mean-

w h i l e , a t t h e

s a m e t i m e , i t

contains mysteri-

o u s e l e m e n t s

t h a t g o f a r

beyond human

understanding.

For example, it

becomes a cloud

and the ocean

and is both vis-

ible and invisible.

(Jin Kuramoto)

水ほど我々人間に身近な物質は無いですよね。その一方で、雲になったり、海になったり、見えたり、見えなかったり、と遥か人知の及ばないようなミステリアスな要素も同時に内包している。（倉元

仁）

The idea that was running through my head during this exhibit was

that people and vegetables have one thing in common: we are vessels

containing water. I consider that proof that we are connected to

nature. (Yasuhiro Suzuki) 人間も野菜も水の器。形が無いもの、常に環境に合わせて形を変えて行くモノに私は惹かれます。（鈴木康広）

美学

Hironao Tsuboi

For me, the act of design is a way of life;

it is my setting and philosophy.

I hope to bring out new value that resonates

with the times and to craft items

that will cast that value into the future.

(Hironao Tsuboi)

デザインという行為は生き様であり背景、そして哲学でもある。

時代に共振した新しい価値を浮き上がらせ、次の時代に投げかけるモノを作っていきたい。

（坪井浩尚）

無心で拝む、祈ることに近いのかもしれません。

デザインを意識化すること、それは失われるモノを知っている心を表現している。（鈴木康広）

My works are like prayers that I offer up with all my heart, perhaps. This

is related to memorializing the deceased. Maybe what I am doing is

bringing awareness to design.

Perhaps what I am doing is expressing the heart that knows those

things that get lost.(Yasuhiro Suzuki)

Hironao Tsuboi

Yasuhiro Suzuki / image sketch for detour 2010

銀閣寺のチョコレート｠Chocolate Ginkaku-ji　2007　created for "Chocolate" / Yasuhiro Suzuki

If the logic of architecture is determined by the logic of so-

ciety and economic systems, the raison d’ etre of architects

vanishes, and architecture is reduced to a decoration-type

thing. It's not interesting if you aren't accessing the

system itself.(Hideyuki Nakayama)建築の論理は社会や経済システムの論理の元で決まってしまうと建築家の存在意義はなくなり、 デコレーション係みたいなものに成り下がってしまいます。システムそのものにアクセスしていかないと面白くない。

I would like to highlight the spaciousness of this enclosure

– how it’ s expansive like the murmur of flowing water,

how water that turns to steam and evaporates into the air

plays a circular rhythm.(Jiro Hirano)

さらさらと流れる水のように、 水蒸気となり空へ溶け込み循環のリズムを奏でる水のようにその閉ざされた場からの広がりを目指したい。（平野治朗）

What is called design is a type of

thing that is like something that

adjusts a stream.

That does not refer to form

itself, but it is perhaps akin to

"behavior" and "general rules."

(NOSIGNER)

デザインというのは、ある種、流れを調整するようなもの。

かたちそのもののことではなくて、

振る舞いや原則に近いかもしれない。（N

OSIGNER

）

Hideyuki Nakayama / kilometer water drawing

Hideyuki Nakayama / door on the prairie

GINGA at ROPPONGI ART NIGHT 2009 / Jiro Hirano

GINGA at Tower of Sun 2010 / Jiro Hirano

WATERFULL / NOSIGNER

cartesia 2 / NOSIGNER

進化

深化

From our origins in Africa, mankind has un-

dertaken a long, arduous journey further

and further East along many different

routes and at different stages, traveling

across Asia and Eurasia to settle as a group

of diverse races. This group settled in

Japan. I believe the time has come when

we need to take a cultural journey follow-

ing the reverse route.

(Jiro Hirano)人類発祥の地アフリカから、アジアの、ユーラシアの様 な々ルートを様 な々時代に長い旅をして東の果てに辿り着き住み着いた多様な民族の集合体。それが日本 だ。私たちは一度その旅を文化の旅として逆流することがそろそろ必要なのじゃないかと思っている。 （平野治朗）

The reason takram works from Tokyo is that Japan has craftsmanship networks

of incredibly high precision and a sense of speed, which is one of those things

you would expect just because this is Japan.

Our hope is to work a bit more anonymously from a viewpoint that sees beyond

borders.

We hope to move organically. It may be that ours is a generation with the

energy to change the concept itself of limits and boundary lines.

(takram Watanabe)

日本には凄い精度の高く、スピード感のあるモノ作りのネットワークがあり、それは日本ならではのものの一つだと思う。 国境を超えて俯瞰した立場でもう少しアノニマスな活動をしていきたいですね。 有機的に動いていきたい。

枠や境界線という概念自体を変えて行くエネルギーを 持った世代なのかもしれない。（takram渡邊）

Kotaro Watanabe / FURUMAI Created for “water” exhibition at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, Tokyo 2007-2008 © water project photo by Takashi Mochizuki

Kotaro WatanabeOVERTURE :

[work credit]Venue: Milan (Italy) Tortona district “Design Library”Exhibition Area: 176 sqm, Dates: April 22 ‒ 27, 2009

Art Direction: Toshiba CorporationProduct Design and Interaction Design: Toshiba Corporation, takram design engineering

Exhibition Space Design: Ryo Matsui Architects Inc.

[photo credit]Photo by Daichi Ano

I think Japan is the most interesting place in the

world.

Perhaps what is important is not the act of picking

out anything from our subjects, but rather taking

those things that gush forth from them.

And I think we also have a thankful heart.

It could be that the depth of any design is related to

the depth of the heart.

(Yasuhiro Suzuki) 日本が世界中で一番面白い。デザインの深さは心の深さに繋がっているのかもしれません。（鈴木康広）

Since we’ re Japanese, we believe

that we should be the ones who

take the lead in the f ield of

design in Asia. We’ d like to take

on the role of coordinator within

Asia.

we hope to join forces with Hong

Kong to build a structure for cre-

ating a better world based on

the power of design.

(MILE)

アジアの中における調整役になっていきたいと思います。共にデザインの力でより良い世界を作り上げる仕組みを作っていけたら良いと思います。（M

ILE

）

MILE / Something to Touch / speaker system / 2003 Photo by Takumi Ota

MILE / good aftermoon / clock / 2008 Photo by Takumi Ota

I have the feeling that grounds and boundaries have no meaning and that the time has come to

establish new boundaries. It seems to me that visualizing relationships will not be limited to just

architecture in the future. Perhaps, now when the permeation and necessity of design are being

sought out, in the case of agriculture, experiencing firsthand and actually sweating in an environ-

ment in sync with one individual could be said to be exposing oneself to the value of design.

(Hideyuki Nakayama)

ボリュームを可視化するのが現代。敷地や境界線は意味をなさず、新しい境界線を設けるべき時が来ています。 関係性を可視化することが今後建築に限らず大切となってくる気がします。 デザインも透明性、必要性が求められている現代においては農業も１人の人間と釣り合う環境を身を以て体験し、 汗を流すことによってデザインの価値に触れる行為と言えるのかもしれません。（中山秀征）

It seems we live in an age when we ought to notice that not all good things are new things.

“Let us seek not a successor to the deceased. Rather let us seek what the deceased sought.”

(Hironao Tsuboi )

良いモノは新しいモノばかりではないという事に気づくべき時が来たように思います。

「故人の後を求めず、故人の求むるところを求めよ。」(坪井浩尚）

As design dissolves into society, something like vested interests surrounding it quickly disap-

pears. Perhaps, design will become free from its framework known as design. I'm interested in

how design will be connected to its surroundings. We cannot design in our modern times if

design does not transcend barriers and get rapidly mixed in. It is a time when barriers will vanish.

(NOSIGNER)

デザインがさらに社会に溶けていく過程で、デザインを囲っていた既得権益のようなものが、どんどん無くなっていくでしょう。 垣根を超えてどんどんミックスアップしていかなきゃ、現代ではデザインができない。垣根がなくなっていく時代です。（NOSIGNER）

Nick Rennie / idee chair

Ymene: 1. idu mi ｠ (5:33) All visuals and sounds by Takagi Masakatsu, 2010

Homicevalo 2008 / Takagi Masakatsu

ROCK / Jin Kuramoto

MIKAMO / Jin Kuramoto

1972 Born in Fukuoka Prefecture, 1998 Graduated from Architecture and Planning

Course, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, 2000

Master of Architecture and Planning Course, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tokyo National

University of Fine Arts and Music, 2000-2007 Worked at Toyo Ito & Associates,

Architects, 2007 Established Hideyuki Nakayama Architecture

Hideyuki Nakayama

Architect design / Hideyuki Nakayama Architecture

1. How do you intend to approach the Business of Design Week event in Hong Kong? (Regarding the work to be displayed and its concept)

2. Design perspectives (Japanese ideas, your personal ideas, design perspective, constructive perspective)

3. The future of design (Japan's position in Asia)

1

The difference between designers who will display their works at this exhibition and other designers is that the former do not wish that much to create designs that are seen as objects.

Up to now, there were things that were absolute. I have the feeling that the former is taking an approach in which they are incorporating elements that act on variables used for creating

1an environment. Recently, I've developed a personal interest in people who have that kind of perspective. Perhaps, this time that is connected to spatial composition. That is to say, that

by visualizing, namely making visible, the relationship, the essence comes to the surface. What kinds of phenomena arise when an environment and architecture are joined together?

That symbolic structure is the exhibition site in Hong Kong for the upcoming event. For my “Detour” project for the exhibition, I will use a one-kilometer, water-filled hose for my spatial

composition. If you set the inside diameter of the hose at 22 millimeters, it will hold 320-330 liters of water. That amount is equal to the amount of water consumed by one Japanese

person in one day. By visualizing that, I have created something like a structure that brings to light the very essence of design. I'd very much like the visitors to touch the hose that will be

crawling at the exhibition.

2

If the logic of architecture is determined by the logic of society and economic systems, the raison d’etre of architects vanishes, and architecture is reduced to a decoration-type thing. It's

not interesting if you aren't accessing the system itself. There has been a shift in consciousness away from the perspective that the framework known as architecture would guarantee

people's lives. Rather, consciousness is shifting toward the part regarding how architecture as one element acts together with others amid the broadening of the environment that

encompasses it. The meaning (motif) of architecture has been talked about. But to the degree to which interest in it has faded, my interest in architecture as a part of scenery has

heightened.

3

I think the meaning of boundaries, which is the theme of “Detour,” also applies to architecture. The system creates Guilty and Not Guilty. The issue of the boundaries created by the

system divides people due to the meaning they have given to it. I feel that that will be a problem that will occur in various forms in the world in the future.

In the world of architecture, boundaries that were believed to be a matter of course have begun to waver. In the past, people believed that the world was unlimited and put out things

without thinking. Perhaps, in the modern age, we are being struck back at all at once for what we have done. The times are such that that kind of volume is visualized. I have the feeling

that grounds and boundaries have no meaning and that the time has come to establish new boundaries. It seems to me that visualizing relationships will not be limited to just architecture

in the future. Perhaps, now when the permeation and necessity of design are being sought out, in the case of agriculture, experiencing firsthand and actually sweating in an environment

in sync with one individual could be said to be exposing oneself to the value of design.

Hironao Tsuboi was born in Tokyo in 1980 and grew up in Shizuoka prefecture. He

graduated from the Department of Environmental Design, Tama Art University, in

2004. In 2007, he founded Hironao Tsuboi Design. Tsuboi has since pioneered a

wide range of products centered on product design, from daily use products to

furniture and household electrical goods. He has also been involved in the planning

of SOLAR PHONE CONCEPTS by au design project. Prominent artworks include

Lamp/Lamp, SAKURASAKU glass, LED Watch, and others. Tsuboi has received

numerous awards, including the red dot award (Germany), the D&AD Global Award

(UK), and the Good Design Award. He was selected as one of forty world emerging

designers by I.D. Magazine (US) in 2008. In 2009, Tsuboi was selected D&AD

“Creative Faces” (UK).

Hironao Tsuboi

product design, art. / Hironao Tsuboi Design office

1

It seems to me that a country’s unique cultural values are on the rise now to the extent that, for an instant, it can create bonds with the rest of the world through a single device.

In Asia, where such cultural material is coming to the forefront, the opportunity to display is of immense value.

I’m pleased to have the honor of appearing with such preeminent members who are creating Japan’s design scene of the future.

I think of this exhibition as a chance, not just to show articles, but to show them emotionally.

I hope to express some sensitivity that does not exactly fit in the framework of design.

One item on display, “The Mirror of Truth,” reveals the mystery of people as living creatures, and for me personally it was the occasion for something new.

2.

You can only create from within your own context.

My context is that I’m Japanese, I was born in a temple, and I went to an arts university.

That context and environment seep out of me naturally in the act of living.

For me, the act of design is a way of life; it is my setting and philosophy.

So many things are becoming increasingly fragmented and subdivided, but at the same time boundaries are disappearing.

In an age like this that is changing from the discrete to the collective intelligence, I want to think about the value of design in the broadest sense, not as just another thing that has already

been assessed and decided. I hope to bring out new value that resonates with the times and to craft items that will cast that value into the future.

3.

Japan has a very refined culture, and Japanese art is particularly elegant, in my opinion. Japanese have a pure way of thinking about objects. They have a rich sensitivity and see the

value of tastefulness and the value of what is not even there. They are sensitive to the fact that taking something away actually increases value. In short, Japanese have a very deep

sense of beauty.

When you go to design shows outside Japan, you try to bring something fresh every year, to make something of value that has never been before, but people only have one body, and

there really are not so many things that people can like that much. The question that interests me now is, how do we “imitate” the things that have proven beautiful in the past, the things

that have become an established part of society, and reproduce them for modern times? To move design forward, even just a little, by valuing the blank spaces in the interstices of our

awareness as it relates to the industrial arts, that is what interests me now.

“Imitation” is a common thing in the world of industrial arts, but it hasn’t found much use in the world of design yet.

It seems we live in an age when we ought to notice that not all good things are new things.

“Let us seek not a successor to the deceased. Rather let us seek what the deceased sought.”

That’s the idea that is guiding my activities.

1.

The activities of MILE itself are similar to water in terms of their organic movements.

We’d like to show MILE’s unique perspective, as it were, our brains (inside our brains), while mutually making the most of one another unhampered by the design of the form.

We'd like people to say that we seem interesting and later say several years down the road that they don't know what we're doing.

We think that we are representative of Tokyo Designer’s Block, which is the brainchild of Mr. Teruo Kurosaki. That event served as a catalyst and was a turning point for us when our

works were highly evaluated for the first time.

It seems to us that there are many exhibitors who place great importance on non-commercial factors. We feel that there are only a few designers there who are lying to themselves.

We would like to succeed since we have been provided with a good opportunity. However, we also want to act flexibly while considering ways of improving the project as a whole.

2.

Since we’re Japanese, we believe that we should be the ones who take the lead in the field of design in Asia. We’d like to take on the role of coordinator within Asia.

We want to be thought of as wise to the degree that our level is said to be different from that of others.

Although we Japanese may not be hungry enough, we feel that the attention we give toward making products is superior to that of people in other countries.

We feel that the vitality in Hong Kong stands out among that of other countries in Asia. But instead of seeing that as a threat, we hope to join forces with Hong Kong to build a structure

for creating a better world based on the power of design.

Design project MILE is formed by acoustic engineer, Bandai Matsuo, software

engineer, Kentaro Kai and interior designer, Kozo Shimoyama. As the proverb,

“Three heads are better than one” (the Chinese character for “MILE” can be read

as “san” meaning three in Japanese), the trio are expanding their design activities,

fully utilizing each member’s specialty. Incorporating humor-filled storytelling in their

ideas and design, they create products that plesantly link people, objects and space.

In Milan Salone 2009, the trio has been selected as one of the aspiring 24 groups of

young talents by ELLE DECO from various countries.

MILE

product design, space design, concept design

'happy finish design' was founded by Australian designer Nick Rennie in 2001, ,

where his intent was, and still is, to explore design that takes its inspiration from

interaction with everyday items. To breathe new life into the repetition of domesticity,

and to do it in a way that engages the user and elicits an emotional reaction. For him,

design is a shared process, his finished product equally owing to the needs of the

user as to his own passion for expression.

Nick Renni

product design / happyfinishdesign

The word "design" originates from the Latin word "designare" meaning de-sign. On

the other hand, "nosign" is about Design which has no signature on it. NOSIGNER is

someone who designs invisible things without explicit signature. Beyond the confines

of design, his work reputed worldwide especially in the fields of product design ,

graphic design and art direction.

NOSIGNER

furniture design, product design, concept design

1.

When I heard about the concept, I thought about expressing the beauty of the shape of water in a straightforward manner. I plan to collect as many glasses of different shapes and sizes

as possible from every nook and cranny in every town and fill them to the rim with water. As I bring together more and more glasses, my clump of glasses will appear as though it is

floating. Although that's all there is, it becomes a truly beautiful space. That is the shape of water just as it is. The use of cups collected locally will mean that the shape of water in local

areas will be revealed. I'd like to spread out as many glasses as possible within that space. I think it will look both like something you have and haven’t seen before and show the

mystery of the extreme beauty of water. I will create a water landscape like you've never seen before using ordinary water and glasses.

2.

What is called design is a type of thing that is like something that adjusts a stream. Through the incorporation of design, a stream that had originally existed is rectified and becomes a

large stream or a thing that has lost its direction is put together and nurtured into a certain form. I think those types of occurrences is what design is. That does not refer to form itself, but

it is perhaps akin to "behavior" and "general rules." Design does nothing more than provide a small catalyst known as "rules," and that is something that is invisible.

3.

Frankly, I have a feeling that society has begun to realize the huge possibilities for design. The fact is that every company, every organization as well as every country and economy have

high hopes for design. I believe that design could now be considered as promising as it was roughly a century ago when the very concept of design came into existence. Under those

conditions, design does not solely belong to the designer and is rapidly democratizing.

As design dissolves into society, something like vested interests surrounding it quickly disappears. Perhaps, design will become free from its framework known as design. I'm interested in

how design will be connected to its surroundings. We cannot design in our modern times if design does not transcend barriers and get rapidly mixed in. It is a time when barriers will

vanish.

The elimination of the framework known as design does not mean that design will disappear altogether, but rather that it will permeate. In other words, design, which had been a large

lump causing hardening of the arteries, separates into tiny particles and flows like smoothly flowing blood.

Amid the changes in communication, I believe that the issue facing not only designers but virtually everyone is the theme of how to get that large wave of change to fit themselves. That's

why the role of design is large. If design becomes increasingly widespread, even corporations and local industries won't have to bring in external stimuli like me to change. Perhaps, the

situation is gradually moving toward one in which they can purify and change themselves. I think we are now in a period of transition.

1.

The idea that was running through my head during this exhibit was that people and vegetables have one thing in common: we are vessels containing water. I consider that proof that we

are connected to nature.

Many of my works have a water theme, so I have many opportunities to think about water day to day.

I’m fascinated by things that have no fixed shape, but instead are always taking on the shape their environment dictates.

The ultimate design shape built of such a vague field is something that packages air and water.

I’m displaying a work called “Stump Bucket.” Droplets fall into the water in a tree stump bucket, creating ripples that represent the tree’s annual rings.

I want people not only to see this work as a form, but to be aware of its design as an installation.

2.

My works are like prayers that I offer up with all my heart, perhaps. This is related to memorializing the deceased. Maybe what I am doing is bringing awareness to design.

Memory means nothing if we do not bring it into awareness, and it is characteristic of my work to awaken the dormant memories we all have.

There are certain things we don’t quite grasp, like memory and smell, but when they change they become visible to us.

Perhaps what I am doing is expressing the heart that knows those things that get lost.

Ordinarily, when I am creating, instead of making a drawing to give form to my work, I keep drawing the same picture, as if I were practicing penmanship, until it becomes convincing to

me.

I think perhaps that by continuing this process, it just confirms some natural phenomenon within me that is continually changing.

3.

I think Japan is the most interesting place in the world.

There doesn’t seem to be any country that produces work more interesting than that of Japan. That may be because I don’t know the outside world, and I’m not trying to know it.

It seems to me Japanese design measures beauty with delicacy and tenderness.

In the West it’s all about the head and the body, but in Japan it’s all about the heart and the body. Our design and art do not spring from any ideology, but rather they value the qualities

that seep from the environment and from the feel of the materials and try to grasp the subject within a relationship. Perhaps what is important is not the act of picking out anything from

our subjects, but rather taking those things that gush forth from them.

And I think we also have a thankful heart.

It could be that the depth of any design is related to the depth of the heart.

1979 Born in Shizuoka, JAPAN

2001 Graduated from Tokyo Zokei University

2002~ Working in Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology The

University of Tokyo

Yasuhiro Suzuki

Artist / Research Center for Advanced Science

and Technology of University of Tokyo

Born in 1979 he currently lives in Kyoto. The variety of projects he has undertaken is

not limited to any one field, and includes exhibitions at art museums and concerts

worldwide. Takagi’s works include not only original works of art but also numerous

collaborative projects, for example, a world concert tour with David Sylvian,

production of music video for UA, YUKI, Sandy Lam, etc., and commissioned works

for RIKEN (scientific research organization), Audi, and NOKIA. He is an artist with a

worldwide following, having been selected by Newsweek (Japanese edition, 2009)

as one of the 100 most respected Japanese in the world. In fall of 2010, Takagi is

scheduled to undertake exhibitions at YAMAMOTO GENDAI and Museum of

Contemporary Art Tokyo , and his first solo concert tour.

Masakatsu Takagi

Visual Artist

2.

The “design + engineering” concept started with an awareness of the problem that design alone is not enough, and engineering alone is not enough, to craft something good.

Instead of teams consisting of a single star designer and assistants dangling at his side, the idea here is a rather flat organization in which each person works independently. Members

come and work on each other’s projects when called. This is an interesting arrangement, because the way that works and items are brought to completion changes depending on the

team you put together.

This is a guild-like arrangement.

A team consists of about 15 members: three core members who are active in a project together with specialists from other fields and people doing back office work.

We have a great vision, which is to help design engineering become firmly established in Japan’s culture of craftsmanship by promoting the activity of design engineering itself through

the crafting of goods. Our work has grown out of this vision.

3.

The reason takram works from Tokyo is that Japan has craftsmanship networks of incredibly high precision and a sense of speed, which is one of those things you would expect just

because this is Japan. When we thought about the process of repeatedly test-producing work, we knew Tokyo would be a good place for now because we could find such an

environment close by there. We felt that was the significance of Tokyo as our base. To make full use of our location, we are using Tokyo’s geographic elements as a component, since

our intent is to fuse design and engineering.

It is not as if we are particularly conscious of being in Japan. We foresee having overseas clients in the future, so we see Japan as simply our base. It gives us a foundation for calmly

observing other cultures, and therefore we are not especially conscious of borders and boundaries.

Our hope is to work a bit more anonymously from a viewpoint that sees beyond borders.

We hope to move organically. It may be that ours is a generation with the energy to change the concept itself of limits and boundary lines.

1.

The space where I am exhibiting is the only area open to the sky in a building closed off to the outside world, like a prison. The space is a courtyard.

I would like to highlight the spaciousness of this enclosure – how it’s expansive like the murmur of flowing water, how water that turns to steam and evaporates into the air plays a

circular rhythm.

I’d also like to explore the differences and similarities between Japan and China, two cultures separated by borders, and see if I can create the dynamism of this interaction.

2005

Founder, member of the board and designer, Surroundings Co., Ltd., Japan

2006

Government-funded scholarship recipient, Vulcanus in Europe for EU Industrial

Companies 2006

Internship at Cisco Systems, Belgium

2007

B.A.(Environmental Information), Keio University, Japan

Kotaro Watanabe

design engineering / takram design engineering

In 1987, he formed “Art Unit Complesso Plastico” and has send works to major

exhibitions home and abroad such as the Venice Biennale. Later, he works on his

own or by the name of the unit. Between 2000 and 2001, his work “12 billion light

years” was exhibited in “SPACE ODDYSEY” in Contemporary Art Center, Art Tower

Mito. After that, his interest shifts to a field more connected to the actual life. His

recent projects are: “GINGA” series which closed up a National Highway for 2km

and mobilized 20,000 people for a festival size outdoor installation, and an

art-sensing-experiment “Byakko Onsen Experimental” which was run for 2 years at

a house in central part of Tokyo.

Jiro Hirano

Lighting Art

2.

I find comments and anecdotes of historical superstars that deal with water interesting. The ancient Greek philosopher Thales said that, “Water constituted the principle of all things.”

Thales actually died of heatstroke after becoming overly excited at a sports match.

Getting into a bath, Archimedes discovered the answer to a puzzle he had been struggling to solve. He jumped out of the bath yelling, “Eureka!” and ran naked into the street.

The first object in the outside world that Helen Keller understood and put a word to was water. Water you can touch. Water stirs and carves out rhythms. Water slides down the throat.

Water quenches thirst. Cool, warm water. “Water!”

Water is deep, quiet, and transparent. It exists as the basis of all life.

Water is as deeply tied to our culture as it is to our physical bodies, so deeply tied that the two cannot be separated.

Tied so closely to mankind, water should be kept clean and pure.

3.

From our origins in Africa, mankind has undertaken a long, arduous journey further and further East along many different routes and at different stages, traveling across Asia and Eurasia

to settle as a group of diverse races. This group settled in Japan. I believe the time has come when we need to take a cultural journey following the reverse route.

1.

There is no substance as close to us human beings as water. Meanwhile, at the same time, it contains mysterious elements that go far beyond human understanding. For example, it

becomes a cloud and the ocean and is both visible and invisible. It's something like that. That's the feeling I just got.

2.

I'd like to create a situation and something like a phenomenon that makes you feel water. If I can make that by using materials that at first glance don't make you feel water, I thought the

“aquatic” nature of the phenomenon will stand out even more.

3.

In view of industrial trends, I feel that there is a possibility that Japanese design will not play any role, but instead decay and fall into oblivion. To prevent that, what will happen and what

will be made to happen in and of itself is the future.

1976 Born in Hyogo prefecture, Japan

1999 Graduated from Kanazawa College of Art, Department of Design

2000 - 2008 Worked as an in-house designer

2003 - 2007 Created designs as a member of "f.a.t"

2008 Founded JIN KURAMOTO STUDIO

A lot of winning like IF Design award,Good Design award etc.

Jin Kuramoto

product design, modern craft /

JIN KURAMOTO STUDIO

Publisher

Teruo Kurosaki

Tomoji Oya (Office of Teruo Kurosaki)

Editor

Daisuke Horie (MEDIA SURF COMMUNICATIONS)

Photographer

Naohiro Kiyota (MEDIA SURF COMMUNICATIONS)

Art direction and design

Shinpei Onishi (www.shinpeionishi.com)

東京素水美学 Tokyo Pure Water Design

There are many bad designs and many good designs as well.

But we like PURE WATER DESIGN,clean and genuine.

We do many bad things,but at the same time ,we do some good things as well.

We want to do things nicely and beautifully.

World is a madhouse . chaotic and crazy.

Only Japanese and Chine culture have different word of water- 水 - Mizu and hot water -湯 -Yu.

There are no definitions for the temperature of 水 and 湯 but there exist difference.

It is continuous and certainly different.

Water accept most but there is certain existence.

That is a Tokyo Design Scene.

日本語と中国語には水と湯と言う、明確な温度差の定義のない水の表現があります。 それは一見、混乱と不確かさを極める現代のようですが、目を澄まして確かな違いを見ることができます。