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Designer Feature: Naoto Fukasawa
Posted by: Cane on 4th Nov 2010 in Creative Report
From the crisp mountain home of Seiko-Epson, to hip San Francisco and a little place called IDEO, then back to Japan to set up IDEO’s Tokyo office, then his own consultants, and eventually his own brand…
Now after a 30 year career, Naoto Fukasawa is bringing sense to brands at the very top, and bottom of the market and across numerous industries. Like many of his celebrity designer contemporaries, Fukasawa has been involved in diverse enough projects that you could pretty much live out the rest of your life in a bubble of his creations, that’s if you can get hold of them of course...
Undoubtedly his most familiar work is the iconic wall-mounted CD player, modelled on a ventilation fan. It has been selling around the world in Muji for nearly a decade now and is even secured in the permanent collection at MoMA in New York, alongside the likes of Smart car, Swatch Skin and iMac G3.
So why is someone responsible for such quiet, understated objects such a sensation? Perhaps because he’s able to deliver something valuable to everyone, design aficionado or otherwise. Whilst some of us are poring over the exquisite detailing and resolved forms of the ±0 kettle, everyone else is free to enjoy their cup of tea and get on with their day. It’s design that serves, and never demands. In the Dieter Rams tradition of good design it is useful, unobtrusive and resolved down to the last detail.
But just because his work doesn’t have the frivolity of some of his Western contemporaries, it doesn’t mean to say there’s anything dull or utilitarian about it. In many cases where the fuss has been taken out, an important bit of fun has been put back in. There’s a shopping bag that sits on a shoe sole, salt & pepper containers shaped like maracas, and drinks cartons that resemble the fruit from which the contents came. Even the CD player for Muji that is operated by a pull-cord; the gentle humour is undeniable - perhaps akin to that of the man himself if you were too meet him.
Indeed, some items are very artful. The two popular ±0 humidifiers are beautifully simple, sculptural forms that seem to owe as much to crafted ceramics as they do to product design.
So how does he ensure the distinctive DNA remains pure when working with so many different markets and brands? A word that often gets used in discussion of his design philosophy is ‘hari.’ Although it has no satisfactory translation into English, he describes it as the line that defines an object. Not its physical outline, but the forces that make it what it is. The balance of it being no more, and no less that it needs to be to fulfil its job. This is embodied perfectly in the name of his brand established in 2003, Plus Minus Zero.
Perhaps to the rest of us, these criteria that define an object really just means a spec. or a brief, but in Fukasawa’s world this principle of ‘balance’ is applied so rigorously, down to the tiniest detail, that the outcome becomes elemental. The most exact definition of an object achievable, one that would be recognisable to people of all ages from across the world. Truly democratic design.
Satisfying our expectations in this way is another of the philosophies that supports his process. ‘You could say that the design comes not from me but from others.’ He wants products to be predictable, so that users can operate them on an instinctive level, without thought or instruction.
This commitment to the normal and everyday has helped Fukasawa move from a design consultant to Muji, onto their board of directors. His collections for his own Plus Minus Zero in the past have included humidifiers, a heater, several toasters, and even a bin. True utility items and formerly amongst the most unaddressed and ugly things in our homes. It seems that Fukasawa’s aim is to truly help make our lives ‘better by design.’
±0 Kettle, ±0 Humidifier, and those lovely juice boxes. I wonder what they contain?...
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Posted by: Cane on 4th Nov 2010 in Creative Report
From the crisp mountain home of Seiko-Epson, to hip San Francisco and a little place called IDEO, then back to Japan to set up IDEO’s Tokyo office, then his own consultants, and eventually his own brand…
Now after a 30 year career, Naoto Fukasawa is bringing sense to brands at the very top, and bottom of the market and across numerous industries. Like many of his celebrity designer contemporaries, Fukasawa has been involved in diverse enough projects that you could pretty much live out the rest of your life in a bubble of his creations, that’s if you can get hold of them of course...
Undoubtedly his most familiar work is the iconic wall-mounted CD player, modelled on a ventilation fan. It has been selling around the world in Muji for nearly a decade now and is even secured in the permanent collection at MoMA in New York, alongside the likes of Smart car, Swatch Skin and iMac G3.
So why is someone responsible for such quiet, understated objects such a sensation? Perhaps because he’s able to deliver something valuable to everyone, design aficionado or otherwise. Whilst some of us are poring over the exquisite detailing and resolved forms of the ±0 kettle, everyone else is free to enjoy their cup of tea and get on with their day. It’s design that serves, and never demands. In the Dieter Rams tradition of good design it is useful, unobtrusive and resolved down to the last detail.
But just because his work doesn’t have the frivolity of some of his Western contemporaries, it doesn’t mean to say there’s anything dull or utilitarian about it. In many cases where the fuss has been taken out, an important bit of fun has been put back in. There’s a shopping bag that sits on a shoe sole, salt & pepper containers shaped like maracas, and drinks cartons that resemble the fruit from which the contents came. Even the CD player for Muji that is operated by a pull-cord; the gentle humour is undeniable - perhaps akin to that of the man himself if you were too meet him.
Indeed, some items are very artful. The two popular ±0 humidifiers are beautifully simple, sculptural forms that seem to owe as much to crafted ceramics as they do to product design.
So how does he ensure the distinctive DNA remains pure when working with so many different markets and brands? A word that often gets used in discussion of his design philosophy is ‘hari.’ Although it has no satisfactory translation into English, he describes it as the line that defines an object. Not its physical outline, but the forces that make it what it is. The balance of it being no more, and no less that it needs to be to fulfil its job. This is embodied perfectly in the name of his brand established in 2003, Plus Minus Zero.
Perhaps to the rest of us, these criteria that define an object really just means a spec. or a brief, but in Fukasawa’s world this principle of ‘balance’ is applied so rigorously, down to the tiniest detail, that the outcome becomes elemental. The most exact definition of an object achievable, one that would be recognisable to people of all ages from across the world. Truly democratic design.
Satisfying our expectations in this way is another of the philosophies that supports his process. ‘You could say that the design comes not from me but from others.’ He wants products to be predictable, so that users can operate them on an instinctive level, without thought or instruction.
This commitment to the normal and everyday has helped Fukasawa move from a design consultant to Muji, onto their board of directors. His collections for his own Plus Minus Zero in the past have included humidifiers, a heater, several toasters, and even a bin. True utility items and formerly amongst the most unaddressed and ugly things in our homes. It seems that Fukasawa’s aim is to truly help make our lives ‘better by design.’
±0 Kettle, ±0 Humidifier, and those lovely juice boxes. I wonder what they contain?...
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