Designs on functionality

TO JAPANESE PRODUCT designer Naoto Fukasawa, design is integrated. His furniture designs are minimal, functional and integrate with our everyday life. 

“In your life, everything is integrated,” he says in interview with architect-and-design magazine Dezeen.

Named as one of the world’s most influential designers by Bloomberg Business Week, the 59-year-old has worked with leading furniture brands like Muji, B&B Italia, Magis and Artemind.

Commissioned by Thai property developer AP to design limited-edition units for the Rhythm condominium on the Chao Phraya River, Fukasawa is due in Bangkok on March 12 to launch his project “Rhythm: The Slow Collection”. He will also talk about his work at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre that evening. 

Among Fukasawa’s iconic designs is the Papilio collection of armchairs, footstools, sofas and beds boasting wide, butterfly-like backs that respond to the way people use their mobile phones and tablet computersfor B&B Italia. The collection features .

“These says we use our beds to watching TV, make calls on our mobiles, work and eat. That’s why I designed these chairs and the bed with a back,” he says.

Fukasawa recently shook the Japanese telecommunications industry with his Infobar A03 smartphone for KDDI.

The Infobar A03 – an updated of the A02 device designed in conjunction with top interface designer Yugo Nakamura. – features an aluminium case with rounded edges and corners that surround a 4.5inch display. The phone’s interface features icons that behave like bubbles and can be dragged around on the screen.

Many homes have Muji’s wall-mounted CD player designed by Fukasawa. And several fashionistas at least have one Trapezoid watch Fukasawa designed for Issey Miyake.

After graduating from Tama Art University in 1980, Fukasawa headed up American company Ideo’s Tokyo office before setting up Naoto Fukasawa Design in 2003. He has won more than 50 awards, including the American IDEA Gold Award, the German IF Gold Award, the British D&AD Gold Award, the Mainichi Design Award and the 5th Oribe Award.

A director of 21_21 Design Sight, Japan’s first design museum, he also teaches Integrated Design at Tama Art University. His publications include “An Outline of Design” and “The Ecological Approach to Design”. (Tokyo Shoseki). 

 

BOOK A SEAT

Naoto Fukasawa’s talk will be from 6 to 8pm on March 12 at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. Admission is free but seats are limited. For bookings, see www.APThai.com or call (02) 261 2518-22 extension 304.