Tokyo Design Premio: Premier Eye Candy

28 May 2007 Category: Events & Exhibitions, Features, Japan, Products, Worldwide

Tokyo Design Premio: Premier Eye Candy

Tokyo Design Premio in Milan: A glimpse into upcoming Japanese design. This one are In Design’s "Hoop lights", illuminating lamps placed to a circle. Looks nice, eh. Credit: InDesign.

As a starter, PingMag already served you some mouth-watering design bits from last month’s Tokyo Design Premio in Milan. But, of course, we won’t spare you the delicious main dish: A colourful Sashimi platter of the Premio as part of the largest international design event, the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, with its four hundred showrooms. Get ready for a bit of visual stimulation from some savvy Japanese design pieces.

Written by Jacqueline Felber and Verena


Tokyo Design Premio’s entrance…

In the city’s Southern district of Zona Tortona, formerly an industrial and residential area turned into a design hotspot thanks to gentrification, the Tokyo Design Premio pavilion celebrated Japanese lifestyles with 17 indigenous brands, 48 designers and graphic artists, and a superb display of high-end interiors. Luckily, this celebration graciously extended to a lively Sake bar alongside a 1:100 state-of-the-art landscape model of Tokyo, courtesy of the Mori Building.

Tokyo Love

“Tokyo Love” was the overall concept’s title, channelling various creative fields into seven sections of which we will try to introduce at least a couple:

1. Preview! Preview! The Company Exhibition


Fujitsu’s brand new “Fab PC”…

… is a foldable E-Paper with a textile surface. Credits: Fujitsu.

The “Media Dealer” by Fujitsu with several displays - is a mobile after all. Credit: Fujitsu.

Soon to get thrown onto European shop shelves, Fujitsu came up with its latest consumer product – amongst it an intriguing looking new E-Paper technology. Fujitsu’s flexible “Fab PC” might resemble a stylish notebook with its soft textile screen, but aside from its apparently creative uses, it literally bends to wishes…
Another new gadget from this tech forge is called the “Media Dealer,” a mobile device with exchangeable displays. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a closer look at the specifics, but the device can show separate images and video content.


Back to space design!

Design Fresco’s Ufo and Table by Kazuo Adachi, a multi-functional seating landscape. Credit: Design Fresco.

Former winner of the Japanese Good Design Award, Osaka-based Ideaco exhibited a collection of nicely shaped accessories with a “no waste” philosophy: Simple minimalistic, Ideaco communicate their design “to be as close as possible to Nature because that’s where no waste exists, and all constituents need each other to live in harmony.” Must be real Japanese Hippies…


Hippie designs! From the Ideaco collection…

…flowery “Animal Bank” moneyboxes. Credits: Ideaco.

2. Breeding grounds: The Designer’s Zone

This area seemed by far the most diverse and individual part of the Tokyo Design Premio. For example, Monacca’s accessories invite you to a world fully equipped with those cozy wooden surfaces. That makes such a warm atmo!


The wooden purse! Monacca’s collection by Takumi Shimamura.

And Monacca’s wooden chair collection from above. Credits: Monacca.

Monacca’s wooden laptop case. Stylish!

Close-up of Monacca’s floor chair. Credits: Monacca.

3. The Tokyo Creative Products: More to stuff your living-room

This section was full of sneak previews of what’s next to emerge on the markets. Whether it was In Design’s “Hoop lights” ‘illuminating the beauty of colour white’ or Toshihito Okura’s “Naomi” chairs and “Tokyo Girls” drawer, a lot of furniture displayed looked promisingly enough to be the next hot thing in town - or not.


Designer Sunnin makes playful and witty space savers: “Tokyo Dresser” closed…

… and opened! Sunnin’s PC table/desk/chest of drawers “Tokyo Dresser.” Credits: Sunnin.

Kaichiro Yamada’s Prism Clock. Credit: Kaichi Design.

“Tube” door stoppers from Shibuya Design Studio…

… in action. Credit: Shibuya Design Studio.

Oh la la, those legs! The “Gemini” stool. Credit: Plustic Minustic.

Plustic Minustic’s “Gemini” stool by Koji Takenaka and Takahide Ishii: Just longish… I guess, without the model in the photomontage it wouldn’t look that exciting…

4. Tokyo Rooms: Small fantastic worlds

An installation/construction with water-filled blocks by architect Kengo Kuma…

… and graphic projections onto it by Japan’s prominent photographer Mika Ninagawa. Courtesy of the Chintai Corporation.

We hope you enjoyed our little field trip to Milan’s Tokyo Design Premio! And, yes, there is some more to come…

16 Comments

  1. We at Swedish Ministry of Design http://www.ministryofdesign.se have seen a start of new thinking in the lightening industry. Minimalistic and creative. The first lamp, “hoop lights” is something. Future?

    Posted by: Swedish Ministry of Design on May 28th, 2007 at 7:58 pm

  2. [...] via pingmag.jp [...]

    Posted by: dérive » Blog Archive » Tokyo Design Premio: Premier Eye Candy on May 28th, 2007 at 8:13 pm

  3. the prefab PC is a beauty! I love the texture and the colors. I’d exchange it with my macbook any day

    Posted by: heri on May 28th, 2007 at 10:24 pm

  4. [...] Via Pingmag [...]

    Posted by: Birdy « And Everything Nice on May 29th, 2007 at 1:38 am

  5. THIS SITE IS DEDICATED TO PROGRESSIVE DANCE CULTURE.

    Posted by: D.MENTXAKA(progressive house and techno) on May 29th, 2007 at 3:51 am

  6. these hoop lights look great. nice artistic work

    Posted by: Helen on May 29th, 2007 at 2:03 pm

  7. we visited the milan show and spoke to many of the japanese designers and even had some sake - there were many fantastic things - our own favourite were the rotating carousels with pandas and bears and all kids of artworks. thank you.

    WOF

    Posted by: world of found on May 29th, 2007 at 7:46 pm

  8. That’s some wicked stuff.

    Posted by: HDR Photography on May 29th, 2007 at 8:09 pm

  9. Cool, I love these glimpse into design via the PingMag field trips. Can’t wait to see more!!

    Posted by: G on May 30th, 2007 at 4:37 pm

  10. PROGRESSIVE DANCE CULTURE

    Posted by: D.MENTXAKA on June 2nd, 2007 at 7:50 am

  11. amazing

    Posted by: O.Z. on June 6th, 2007 at 8:25 am

  12. THIS SITE IS DEDICATED TO PROGRESSIVE HOUSE MUSIC

    Posted by: D.MENTXAKA on June 8th, 2007 at 3:35 pm

  13. The lamps are very impressive … nice work !

    Posted by: James (studiosushi) on June 27th, 2007 at 9:39 pm

  14. Fo shizzle!

    Posted by: Okinawa on September 27th, 2007 at 6:04 pm

  15. Supurb!

    Posted by: Japan News in English on November 24th, 2007 at 6:33 am

  16. [...] the fields of architecture, product and graphic design in a quite playful way. Report on the Tokyo Design Premio in Milan and sat down with Plastic Minustic’s Koji [...]

    Posted by: » Blog Archive » Plustic Minustic: Synthetic Frictions on June 29th, 2008 at 4:09 am

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