Tokyo Weekly: Design Tide

Written by Keiji Ashizawa
Translated by Hannah Hernandez

This is the third year for Design tide. Up till last year they were exhibiting in buildings under construction and vacant stadium spaces which served as a message in itself. This year they were exhibited at an event space located on the basement floor of a shopping mall in midtown Tokyo. Due to the convenience of transportation and the shopping malls location, it was commercially successful but it appeared to be less eventful. Mr Makoto Tanijiri coordinated the space which did a great job.

Chris Kirby – Negative Series

Stool by Raw Edge design studio

Stool by Grand furniture & Factory Naoya Matsuo

Clock by Tamotsu Koshima

Vase by Jin Kuramoto

Chair by Mile

Chair made with hard rubber and wood

Furniture made with glued wood by Jo Nagasaka

Tokyo Weekly: 100% Design and Design Tide

Written by Keiji Ashizawa
Translated by Hannah Hernandez

Tokyo design week turned out to be a successful and very prosperous event. The two big events were 100% design Tokyo and Design Tide. Tokyo design week on 0ct 30th thru Nov. 3rd turned out to be a very successful week. Both events were blessed with many participants as usual. We are proud to say that the prototype exhibitions which we hosted were also a great success.

I’d like to introduce a few designers out of the 29 pairs.

Chris Kirby

He is an industrial designer who comes from an engineering background. His Spiral Lamp shows a great engineering idea. I’d like to state that this lamp is a prototype he created himself.

Youichiro Yamanaka

CH-BED-AIR can be considered a prototype that encourages one to think about what it could possibly evolve into. This can be seen by his sketching as well. By exhibiting a piece like this at the show, it allows people who see it to imagine more possibilities. There were many participants who created products for the show with the hope of possibly expanding these ideas into greater products for the future.

In design

They are a group who should be feared that independently produces all of their tools. We are excited to see the unique objects they create with a good sense of surprise and humor.

Keiji Ahsizawa - Ellipse

lumps are made of 0.5 mm thin iron board that are laser cut and bent by hands. This process creates soft lighting made by the curving of the iron board and dotted line. There are three different types created: one that mounts on the wall, stand type and hanging type.