Some people design from what ideas are flying around in their heads - some prefer to write concepts and Yoshino Fukuma (who calls herself ten-sen) creates objects based on her presumptions of environmental psychology. What that means is, that she observes her environment closely, the people living in it and how they use things. PingMag talked to Yoshino Fukuma about how she applies her favorite psychologist James Gibson’s thoughts on environmental psychology onto her products and introduces some of her friendly products today.
Written by Verena
Yoshino Fukuma is ten-sen. Here she is wearing one of her comfy creations: the ‘Muffffflers’. The plural stands for the many parts it consists of.
The ‘ten-sen’ logo: the direction of the arrows are opposite of an ordinary recycling sign. “Environmental care is important. Obviously I don’t want to create trash!” Yoshino explains. Most of her works are made by hand by herself.
When did you get to know the works of James Gibson and why are his theories about environmental psychology and respectively ecological psychology so appealing to you?
I have been observing the environment from an ecological psychology’s point of view for almost 10 years now: I encountered Gibson’s theories in 1997 when a robotics researcher, Dr. Michio Okada, introduced me to psychologist Masato Sasaki’s books about ecological psychology.
As Gibson said: “The terrestrial environment is better described in terms of a medium, substances, and the surfaces that separate them.” And he didn’t approve of the classical believe of physics that the universe consists of bodies in space. Because if so, people might assume that “we live in a physical world consisting of bodies in space and that what we perceive consists of objects in space” (from The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception).
The important thing about Gibson’s thinking is not the actual theory about visual information but the way of observing the visual information. That’s why I think that the aim of design is to create a part of the environment as a whole.
James Gibson works, published in 1979: “The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception”
Yoshino’s copy - she obviously worked a lot with that…
You said earlier to me: “Design doesn’t start form the desktop.” So according to the ecological psychology theory, it would start from the relation between humans and their environment, correct?
Yes. And, this is important: we can get this information without any consideration beforehand but rather from observation.
I’m interested in how you apply the theory now upon your work process. Let’s look at your muffler design, for example: how did you come up with such a deliberate shape, using those modules of cloth?
…and this is how you can wear it.
My muffler called Muffffflers, the plural for the many parts it is made of, was originally designed for my boyfriend four years ago. Observing his daily life, I noted 5 main points:
1. He was riding a bicycle at midnight in the cold winter season.
2. As he would then start to sweat easily, he shouldn’t get too hot with an extra muffler.
3. His style of dressing was kind of simple.
4. He often forgot to use the presents I gave him.
5. He tended to break some of his goods out of mere carelessness!
I wanted to improve these 5 points. So this process was like solving a puzzle and I came up with the following qualities for this product:
1. It should not fall off from his neck.
2. It should be easy to control the level of warmth.
3. It should make his simple style fashionable. I wanted to create a new visual balance by adding the muffler like a sculpture on top of his very basic style.
4. It should be something not to be forgotten or left behind. The Muffffflers was supposed to have a strong presence, almost like an animal.
5. It should be very tough, so it wouldn’t break!
One more interesting product is your floor cushion assembly called MAKURA-REN: would you say that, due to these organic shapes, the pillows tucked together express their own kind of dynamics and flexibility?
… made of connecting pillows to be rearranged constantly.
These are connectable pillows. ‘MAKURA’ means pillow and ‘Ren’ means connection. You can connect them with snap buttons and use them singularly or as a unit. Many different formations are possible.
The approach was something like this: we all need time to relax. However, the Japanese have very small rooms and a sofa would be too large. Moreover, we have a ‘floor using’ culture of our own without the need for any chairs. So I designed a sofa-like cushion for the Japanese environment.
What might that be? The ‘Desktop-Tent’ hides the things you messily forget to put away. Tis one was just shown at the New York International Gift Fair this February.
About the dynamics you mentioned: if you connect the pillows, you can find a strong visual direction resembling an animal. Actually, I sometimes find that the appearance of a resting person a bit disturbing for other people, so a big animal whose presence would be stronger than the one of the human resting should create a good, fun visual balance.
Another special product is your Desktop-Tent disguising the objects on your messy desk…
Yes, the shape of the Desktop-Tent is rather strong and with its beauty, it basically “erases” the unpleasant-looking objects inside.
Wants to create more awareness of environmental issues: the toilet paper notebook called NOTE ROLL.
Interesting concept! What about your toilet paper bookends: you mentioned that these were actually designed to create more of an awareness of our daily waste of resources…?
Exactly, the NOTE ROLL is supposed to be a friendly reminder to be more aware. It looks just a toilet roll, but its printing pattern and paper resemble normal notebook paper. Usually people use paper sheets without any consideration. So this is actually a bit of an ironic approach, because if the paper is on a toilet roll, you will most likely pull out an even long piece of paper, especially when you are in a hurry.
But by doing so and having so much paper loosely in your hand, you might actually consider that the more you take, the more is wasted right away. Hopefully people will start using only the amount they really need to scribble on…
I see… Were could I now see one of your products for real and maybe buy one, too…?
The ten-sen BAG series - the first to be manufactured by a company in a larger number. This one here actually was custom-made.
Last year some of my products were sold at MORI ARTS CENTER museum shop and, moreover, some will be for sale from this March at Style Store and eyeco by RECRUIT. Until recently there weren’t so many pieces available as I make every item by myself. But since this February I have a Japanese company producing some of my new designs in a larger number. The MINI BAG WHITE series will be the first. And the ‘Muffffflers’ are getting redesigned to be produced by a knit company.
Apart from your product design you are writing theoretical essays yourself: for example a chapter in a book about environmental psychology. What is that about?
The book is called “The new forms of environmental psychology” and I wrote chapter six, entitled ‘Toshi Kankyoh no Affordance’ (”Affordances of City Environment”) - unfortunately it is only in Japanese so far.
Excerpts from Yoshino Fukuma’s essay “Affordances of City Environment”…
…about your daily perception patterns of the streets and intersections in Shibuya.
There is an upcoming conference about ecological psychology called The 14th international conference on perception and action (ICPA) this July in Yokohama. You submitted a paper there, so if we are lucky we might see your lecture… Do you have any suggestions why analyzing your surroundings seems to be popular with Japanese designers?
Maybe Japanese tend to regard things more depending on their interrelations, therefore it could be obvious to search for ways to observe these relations… Moreover, the works of Masato Sasaki and Naoto Fukasawa might have been an influence for Japanese designers as well.
Thanks for giving us insight in your conscious design, Yoshino Fukuma! Hopefully we will see your lecture at the ecological psychology conference in Yokohama this July!
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