AMBIENT Lifestyle Items Designed by Naoto Fukasawa
General Information
- Dates
- 8 July – 1 Octber, 2017
- Hours
- 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. (Admittance until 5:30 p.m.)
- Closed
- Every Wednesday、 14～16 August.
- Admission
- Adults: ¥1000 Visitors aged 65 or over carrying proof of age: ¥900
Students (college): ¥700 Students (High / Middle school): ¥500
Admission is free for children in primary school and younger.
Groups of 20 or more are subject to a ¥100 discount per person.
Admission is free for disability passbook holders and up to one accompanying adult.
- Organizers
- Panasonic Shiodome Museum, The Mainichi Shimbun
- Support
- Minato Ward Board of Education
- Cooperation
- Artemide Japan K.K, ALESSI, ISSEY MIYAKE INC., ONAO, KDDI, Jakuetsu, Seiko Watch, Herman Miller Japan, B&B ITALIA Japan, PLANK, Magis Japan, Maruni Wood Industry, Yamagiwa, LAMY, Ryohin Keikaku Co.
- Special Cooperation
- NAOTO FUKASAWA DESIGN
Exhibition overview
Globally renowned product designer Naoto Fukasawa will be presenting his first solo exhibition in Japan.
Alessi, Artemide, B&B Italia, Boffi, Danese, Magis, Belux, Lamy, Thonet, and Herman Miller: these are just a few of the global brands that have developed products based on designs created by Fukasawa. In Japan, Fukasawa has provided designs and consultation for Panasonic, MUJI, and Maruni, among others, for a wide range of products ranging from precision instruments to home appliances and furniture. Every product embodies Fukasawa’s philosophy that design should be influenced by the unconscious actions of people. He calls it “Without Thought” and has held a design workshop of the same name every year since 1999. Fukasawa has also published several books in which he expounds on his approach to product design, using terms such as “action-dependent design,” “center of consciousness,” “normality,” “shaping,” and “classical.” His work represents an attempt to give visual form to these concepts.
The “ambient” in the exhibition name refers both to “ambient” and “ambience”—that is, both environment and atmosphere. Fukasawa shapes an object based on the environment it is to be placed in, which in turn implies that this is the shape that the environment demands—the shape that belongs in that location. By simply using such an object in its intended environment, a consumer creates synergy between the two—in the process transforming the ambience of that environment into what Fukusawa calls “a positive atmosphere.” In other words, the act of using an object designed by Fukusawa is, in that moment, the act of designing the ambience of one’s environment. Through creative presentation, this exhibition will attempt to replicate this “positive atmosphere.”
Exhibited items include numerous award-winning products that Fukusawa has designed for MUJI, au (KDDI), B&B Italia, Panasonic, and other brands. Chairs, home appliances, household equipment, and other lifestyle items will be displayed in ways that will allow visitors to experience the unique atmosphere created by Fukasawa’s products—and, in the process, acquire a deeper understanding of his design philosophy,