Japanese Design

Hope Forever Blossoming

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:26:33 +0000

“Hope forever blossoming” is plastic flower vases produced by Japanese product design brand D-bros. Filled with water, a flat plastic vase is transformed into a fully functional 3D flower vase. Even though it is made of plastic, these vases are not disposable. You can use it for a long time just by washing after use. You can purchase them here.

Polaris KDDI iida Concept Model

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:31:32 +0000

“Polaris” is a new type of mobile phones, which has a learning function, and shows a “life log” of users. It combines the functions of a mobile phone, robot, and television. The AI(Artificial Intelligence) of a robot can help us “rearrange” information, and it can provide us with optimized information which facilitate our life.
This is a concept model designed by Tatsuya Matusi.

Ainojikan by Araki

admin — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 14:36:00 +0000

A photo exhibition by Yoshinobu Araki will start at the Leica store in Ginza on September 3rd. The theme of the exhibition is “Ainojikan” or “Time for love”, and it shows 14 black and white photographs taken by Araki.

“I was confident about framing time - instead of space. “Time for love” created by the relationship between a mother and a child or families….my photos are ‘time for love’”, Araki says.

Nabeshima Ware - Design that Inspire Pride

admin — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:36:03 +0000

“Nabeshima Ware - Design that Inspire Pride” is an exhibition which shows the highest quality porcelains manufactured between 17th - 19th century in the province of Saga, Kyushu, Japan. . “Nabeshima ware” were originally gifts brought to Shogun by the province of Saga. The exhibition started at Suntory museum in Tokyo on August 11th.

Architects from HYPER VILLAGE

admin — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 12:02:27 +0000

“Architects from HYPER VILLAGE” exhibition started in Tokyo on August 6th. “HYPER VILLAGE” is a new term defining a modern city, which has been called such as “city” or “metropolis”. The following architects have participated in this exhibition:

Kumiko Inui, Jun Igarashi, Maki Onishi, Koji Kakiuchi, Kimuramatsumoto, SPACESPACE, dot architects, Ryuji Nakamura, Hideyuki Nakayama, Nousaku Fuminori, Tomonaga Tokuyama, Go Hasegawa, Sou Fujimoto, Ryuji Fujimura, Satoshi Matsuoka & Yuki Tamura, Eisuke Mitsuda, Kazuya Morita, Yasutaka Yoshimura

The following images are from “japan-architects”.

Ryuji Fujimura

Kukmiko Inui

Sou Fujimoto

Eisuke Mitsuda

“Architects from HYPER VILLAGE” August 6 - October 2.Hiromiyoshii, 1-3-2 Kiyosumi, Kotoku, Tokyo 135-0024, TEL: 03-5620-0555

Japanese techniques to support Scandinavian design

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:41:25 +0000

“Scandinavian vintage furniture” exhibition started at ROGOBA DESIGN ON LIFE_Tokyo, in Hanzomon, Tokyo.

All the pieces of furniture are historical items which were restored by Japanese furniture manufacturer “Kitani”.

“Kitani” is originally a manufacturer which produces furniture for welfare purposes, and during the period when their staffs were conducting a research on Danish furniture in Denmark, they found these extraordinary pieces of furniture and decided to restore them.

Above images: “No.45″ by Finn Juhl

via: excite/ism

Winners of Red Dot Design Award 2009

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 12:14:16 +0000

The red dot design award team submitted us the 2009 winning concepts from Japan.

Here are the three concepts:

Designer: Ben Ryuki Miyagi

Made by folding and gluing layers of industrial felt, Elephant Seating draws conceptual content from many elements of design history. The result is a sofa that is mysterious yet humorous, soft yet dense, and conceptual yet practical.

Designer: Mac Funamizu

The Looking Glass Concept predicts a future where a single mobile device for place visualisation can offer a touch screen, a built-in camera, a scanner, WiFi connectivity, access to Google Maps (and hopefully Google Earth), Google searching, and image searching.

Designer: Ghassan Baghdadi, Tomohiko Hirata

Giraf has been designed to have the appeal of a toy but the functionality of a high-quality stroller. And thanks to a reduction of its number of components, its price is low enough for all to enjoy.

About red dot design award

red dot stands for belonging to the best in design and business. Our international design competition, the “red dot design award”, is aimed at all those who would like to distinguish their business activities through design. The distinction is based on the principle of selection and presentation. Excellent design is selected by competent expert juries in the areas of product design, communication design, and design concepts.

The accolade of the red dot design award, the “red dot”, is an internationally recognised quality label for excellent design. We offer its winners varied presentation opportunities; this includes the glamorous awards presentations, internationally distributed red dot design yearbooks, which are published by red dot’s in-house publishing company, red dot edition, exhibitions in the red dot design museums in Germany and Singapore, touring exhibitions around the world, the presentation on www.red-dot.de, and much more.

However, red dot represents more than just a design competition: as design promoters we spread the idea of design internationally; we highlight the importance of design for business and society, and as trend experts present the latest developments in design. The red dot institute filters the results of the red dot design award according to different criteria and on application calculates the design value of companies that have received the red dot. It creates job-related industry analyses and rankings, and develops studies for long-term design developments.

Enter and discover the red dot world!

Setouchi International Art Festival 2010

admin — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:52:00 +0000

Architect Kazuyo Sejima designed three art galleries for “Setouchi International Art Festival 2010″, where artist Yukinori Yanagi’s work are exhibited.

“Flower fields with an ‘eye’” designed by kazuyo Sejima

“The God of the mountain, the electric Hinomaru and the mirror gardens on both sides”
by Yukinori Yanagi

designed by Kazuyo Sejima
-About “Setouchi International Art Festival”
July 19th - October 31st, 2010. on the Seven Islands of the Seto Inland Sea + Takamatsu

From long ago the Seto Inland Sea has played an important role as a main artery of transportation. Boats came and went bringing new cultures and lifestyles to the islands. Traditional customs and a beautiful view have been fostered in the course of the lives of the people there. The Setouchi International Art Festival is an event in which, guided by contemporary art, people can experience the healing landscape of the Seto Inland Sea and the lifestyles and cultures of the people of the islands.

Wooden flowers by Etsuhiro Suda

admin — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:52:45 +0000

Etsuhiro Suda’s solo exhibition started at gallery Koyanagi in Ginza, Tokyo. At a glance, the space looks totally empty. But if you look at it carefully, you will find 10 small wooden flowers. You can find some flowers easily, but the others are located in rather hidden places.

Gallery Koyanagi, 1-7-5, Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo.

TEL: 03-3561-1896

“Light Pool” by KDDI

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:28:21 +0000

Japanese mobile network provider KDDI has released “Light pool” by collaborating with product designer Hironao Tsuboi and visual artist Masakatsu Takagi. The phone contains 22 super luminosity LEDs, and that makes it possible to have over 100 patterns of movements of the light.