Asian Interior Design Symposium: Japan

Speaker

• This symbol is combination between E and G, and stands for East Gathering, in which three countries—China, Japan and Korea gather to express design in Asia

• The aim is to improve Asian culture and cultural diversity

• For us in the Japan, the 20th Century has been very much influenced by American culture.

• But in reality, Japanese society faces a lot of conflicts, and creates a paradoxical phenomenon.

• This is the work of Jackson Pollock, one of the most influential American artists in 20th century. He presented the foundation of the body of the 20th century, homogeneity and oneness, and his art created a big impact on art and design.

• The year 1968 was the turning point of the 20th Century

• This is a poster created by Tandnori Yokoo, a superstar artist of that age. He stood for anti-modernism, and a symbol of counter-culture

• The counter-culture movement embraced many different media. The man here is Moriyama Daido, a photographer.

• Around the end of 1960, there was a revolution in interior design field. In Kuramata Shiro’s anti-design and minimalism co-existed as one.

• This work is created by Donald Judd, an American artist. His work influenced 20th century spatial design

• Sugimoto Takashi, founder of Super Potato, came after Kuramata. His main theme is materiality. It connects to the context of Japanese culture. This is his work for a hotel in Seoul.

• Behind his design philosophy, there is a sensitivity to materials that is very Asian

• In 1980s, minimalism turned into expressionist works

• Art has also become more expressionistic

• Ijima’s design started in 1980s. His focus is the essence of material and space. In this restaurant, the wall and ceiling are all made of paper.

• 11 September 2001 marked the end of the 20th Century, and represented a paradigm shift in the world.

• This photo is shot by Sugimoto Hiroshi, a photographer. He said nothing was established in the 20th century in his mind. These artifacts are from Hiroshi’s collection. He thinks that such artifacts could only be found before 19th century.

• The meaning of East Gathering attempts to find the special meaning of design in 21st century. I wish EG can be a force to discover it.

• An example from Asian culture is this typical wooden Japanese house. There is no notion of hierarchy in Japanese interior space. The freedom of space existed in our daily life.

• When we studied interior design in school, most of our teachers told us how to divide a space and planning based on Western concepts, but in opposition to these kinds of segmentation, I can find another quality in this Japanese domestic space.

• This picture shows the relationship between the space, the air flow and the baby. The baby gives us the clue on how to develop interior design.

• Our human body consists of 60 trillion cells. These cells keep moving and transforming until we die. This diagram tells us the notion of static does not exist in this world. The transformation of the cells works smoothly and comfortably.

• This condition is similar to the open corridor in a Japanese house. There are no boundaries between inside and outside. This type of concept comes up in the forefront of Japanese design field nowadays.

• For example this design won the grand prize in a Japanese contest. The designer is an architect, Mr. Nakamura Ryuji, who will speak at the BODW. This is made of a metal sheet 0.003 millimeter, made with laser technology to create an organic form.

• He used sensitive element as design motif to create atmosphere. You can almost feel the vibration of the air as he creates movement in a space. He intentionally works outside of the definition of space as understood in the 20th century.