nextmaruni CHAIR MUSEUM :Design ::Designers


Alberto Meda Born in Lenno Tremezzina (Como) in 1945. Master in Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico of Milan in 1969. From 1973 to 1979, technical manager of Kartell. In 1979, he starts as a freelance industrial designer for various companies; Alfa Romeo Auto(1981-1986) etc. From 1983 to 1987, lecturer on industrial technology at Domus Academy. Since 1994, the Museum of Modern Art in New York includes in its Design Collection; "Light light" chair in 1987, "Soft light" chair in 1989, "On-Off" lamp by Luceplan in 1988, and "Longframe" by Alias in 1993. Meda Chair(Vitra) was awarded I.D design review - 'Best of category' in 1997, 'Good design Gold Prize' of Japan in the next year. A personal exhibition at Salon du Meuble in Paris in 1999. In 2003, he was awarded Reddot award for Iittala Knives. He works and lives in Milan.

Harri Koskinen URL : www.harrikoskinen.com Harri Koskinen was born in Finland in 1970 and studied design at the Lahti Design Institute and University of Art and Design of Helsinki. He worked for Iittala and other manufactures as a freelance designer beginning in 1996 while he was still a student. He established an industrial design company, Friends of Industry Ltd. in 2000. His first solo exhibition was presented at the MDS-G in Tokyo in 2000. He works with a wide range of products, from glasswares to speakers, wristwatches and furniture. Clients: Altia, Arabia, Finlandia Vodka Worldwide, Genelec, Hackman, iittala, Woodnotes; Finland. Issey Miyake Inc, Muji, Seiko Instruments Inc.; Japan. Danese, Montina, O luce, Venini; Italy. Asplund, Design House Stockholm, Kallemo; Sweden. Beaute Prestige International, Galerie Kreo; France. Svarowski; Switzerland. Schmidingermodul; Austria.

Jasper Morrison Jasper Morrison was born in London in 1959 and graduated in Design at Kingston Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art in London, with a year at Berlin's HdK art school. 1986, set up an Office for Design in London. 1987, exhibited Reuters News Centre, an installation at Documenta 8 in Kassel. 1988, took part in the Berlin Design Werkstadt with “Some new items for the home, part I”. Earliest designs produced by Aram Designs and SCP Ltd. in London, Neotu in Paris, FSB in Germany and Cappellini in Italy. 1989, began collaboration with Vitra exhibiting “Some new items for the home, part II”, at the Salone del Mobile in Milan. Formed Utilism International with Andreas Brandolini and Axel Kufus, providing exhibition design and town planning services. 1994, began a consultancy with Ustra, the Hannover transport authority, designing a bus shelter, and in 1995 the new Hannover tram. Further collaborations began around this time with projects for the Italian companies Alessi, Flos, and Magis, and the German porcelain manufacturer Rosenthal. 2000, began a project for Rowenta to design a set of kitchen electrical appliances, the first major product design project attempted by the office. 2001 elected as a Royal Designer for Industry. Furniture design for London’s Tate Modern, Museum of Art (architects Herzog & de Meuron). Solo exhibitions in Tokyo: Axis Gallery;Yamagiwa and HH Style. 2004, began consultancies with Muji, Japan, Samsung, Korea and Ideal Standard,UK. 2005 founding of Super Normal with Naoto Fukusawa. In June 2006, first Super Normal exhibition in Tokyo.

o-d-a/Jutamas Buranajade+Piti Amraranga URL : www.o-d-a.net nextmaruni/The competition Grand-Prix 2005 o-d-a is design group included two members, Ms. Jutamas Buranajade and Mr. Piti Amraranga. Both born in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1980. Jutamas graduated from Silpakorn University’s Product Design Department, while Piti graduated from Visual Communication Arts Department. o-d-a was 10 Finalists of “Tokyo Designers Block Competition 2003”. Was awarded as “Emerging awards” 2007 by The Faculty of Decorative Arts, Silpakorn University. Was awarded "The Honourable Mentions" of Promosedia International Design Competition 2007. And participated "FRAGILES" exhibition at Design Miami 2007. *Please get more info : nextmaruni/International design competition.

Kanji Ueki URL : www.casappo.com Interior Designer. Representative director of Casappo & Associates. Born in Tokyo in 1945. After graduating from Keio University in Tokyo, he went to Italy. Worked at RINASCENTE department design section in Milan. Since 1971, he worked for Aldo Jacober architect studio in Milan. In 1975, established design office, Casappo & Associates in Tokyo. His major works are: IBM Makuhari, Chiba (1991); Reaber Crown Department, Taipei (1991); Seoul City Club, Seoul (1998); Apple Computer Retail Store, U.S. (2001-2003); The Museum of Modern Art, collaborating with architect Yoshio Taniguchi (2004) Currently, Ueki is awarded Industrial Design Excellence Awards Gold Medal (Apple Computer Retail Store) in 2001 and BEST STORE OF THE YEAR 2004 (TOUCH) in 2004.

Kazuyo Sejima+Ryue Nishizawa/SANAA Kazuyo Sejima / 1956 : Born in Ibaraki Prefecture 1981 : Graduated from Japan Women's University with Masters Degree in Architecture Joined Toyo Ito & Associates 1987 : Established Kazuyo Sejima & Associates 1995 : Established SANAA with Ryue Nishizawa 2001 - Professor at Keio University Ryue Nishizawa / 1966 : Born in Kanagawa Prefecture 1990 : Graduated from Yokohama National University with Masters Degree in Architecture Joined Kazuyo Sejima & Associates 1995 : Established SANAA with Kazuyo Sejima 1997 : Established Office of Ryue Nishizawa 2001 - Associate Professor at Yokohama Graduate School of Architecture(Y-GSA) < Major Works > 2003 : Christian Dior Building Omotesando, Tokyo, Japan 2004 : 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa, Kanazawa Japan 2006 : Zollverein School of management and design, Essen, Germany The Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion, Toledo, Ohio, USA New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, USA 2009 : Rolex Learning Center, EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne), Switzerland <Current Projects> Louvre Lens, Paris, France Vitra Factory Building, Weil am Rhein, Germany HyundaiCard Factory, Seoul, Korea La Samaritaine, Paris, France Grace Farms, New Canaan, Connecticut, USA Shakujii Apartment (Tokyo) <Select Publications> 2003 : "KAZUYO SEJIMA + RYUE NISHIZAWA / SANAA WORKS 1995 - 2003" TOTO Shuppan, Japan 2004 : "SANAA, Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa 2000/2004" EL CROQUIS, No.121/122, Spain 2005 : "GA Sejima Kazuyo + Nishizawa Ryue Dokuhon," A.D.A, EDITA, Japan 2006 : GA ARCHITECT 18 "Kazuyo Sejima, Ryue Nishizawa /1987-2006." A.D.A, EDITA, Japan 2007 : HOUSES: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA (ACTAR, Spain) WALTER NIEDERMAYER/KAZUYO SEJIMA + RYUE NISHIZAWA / SANAA (HATJE CANTZ, Germany) 2008 : "SANAA, Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa 2004/2008" EL CROQUIS, No.139, Spain

Masayuki Kurokawa Architect, Product Designer Brief Background) Born in Nagoya, Japan in 1937. Completed doctoral courses at WASESDA University's Graduate School of Architecture in 1967. Established) Established KUROKAWA Masayuki Architect Studio (www.k-system.net) in 1967. Established BUTSUGAKU Research Institute (www.k-system.net/butsugaku/) in 1998. Established DESIGNTOPE Co. Ltd. (www.designtope.net) in 2001. It supports activity of individual who creates a design or an organization, aiming at "a good design come to fill and be full of the world." Established K Copporation in 2007.(www.k-shop.net/intl/) Guest professor at Kyoto Seika University Guest professor at Nagoya Zokei University of Art & Design Guest professor at Fudan University Lecturer at Nihon University Graduate School of Art Received major prizes and awards) Mainichi Design Award, IF prize in Germany, and the good design award. Several of his works are displayed in the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, in the Denver Art Museum, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. BOOKS) “ARCHIGRAPH” Masayuki Kurokawa + Koichi Inakoshi (TOTO Publishing) “Masayuki Kurokawa PRODUCT DESIGN”(Rikuyo-sha Publishing) “HANTAISHOU NO BUTSUGAKU”(TOTO Publishing) “Future Archaeology of Design”(TOTO Publishing) “Design Mandara”(Kyuryudo) “Design Shujihou”(Kyuryudo) “Eight Japanese senses of beauty” (Kodansha) “Design and Death” (Socym Co,.Ltd.)

Michele De Lucchi Born in 1951 at Ferrara and graduated in architecture in Florence. During the period of radical and experimental architecture, he was a prominent figure in movements like Cavart, Alchymia and Memphis. De Lucchi designed products for Artemide, Dada Cucine, Kartell, Matsushita, Mauser, Poltrona Frau and Olivetti, for whom he has been Director of Design since 1992. He has developed experimental projects for Compaq Computers, Philips, Siemens and Vitra. His architectural designs have been mainly for office buildings in Japan, Germany and Italy. In 1999, he has been appointed to renovate some of ENEL's (the Italian Electricity Board's) power plants. Many of his service interiors are in use at Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bundesbahn, Enel, Poste Italiane, Telecom Italia, Mandarina Duck, Banca Popolare di Lodi and so on. IIn 1990, he set up Produzione Privata, a small-scale concern through which Michele De Lucchi designs products that are made using artisan techniques and crafts. The honors he has received include the following prizes: Good Design (Japan), Compasso d'Oro, Premio Smau, Office Design Eimu (Italy), Deutsche Auswahl, IF Hannover, Design Plus, Roter Punkt, and Design Team of the Year 1997 (Germany). His firm, aMDL, has its offices in Milan and Rome.

Naoto Fukasawa In 2003 he established Naoto Fukasawa Design. While collaborating with representative brands in Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Scandinavia and Asian countries for their product developments, he is also consulting both national and international companies. He has continued to hold workshops based upon his own thoughts regarding the transposition of human unconsciousness into design - a philosophy that could be best expressed using the terms "Without Thought" and in 2010, it will record its 11th workshop. Fukasawa has won many awards that includs the American IDEA Gold Award, the German if Gold Award, the British D&AD Gold Award, the Mainichi Design Award, the 5th Oribe Award and a gold award for Japanese Good Design Award. In 2006, Fukasawa founded Super Normal with Jasper Morrison. In 2007, Fukasawa was accorded the title of Honorable Royal Designer for Industry (Royal Society of Arts). Fukasawa is one of the directors of 21_21 Design Sight. In 2010 Fukasawa acted as the chairman for the Good Design Award 2010 judging committee. He is a professor at Musashino Art University, a visiting professor at Tama Art University. Fukasawa has co-authored such books as The Ecological Approach to Design (Tokyo Shoseki), Optimum (Rikuyosha), while authored An Outline of Design (TOTO Shuppan) and released NAOTO FUKASAWA, a compilation of his works, through Phaidon Press. Recently Fukasawa had an exhibition in collaboration with a photographer: Tamotsu Fujii and they published The Outline - The Unseen Outline of Things (Hachette Fujingaho)

Sean Yoo nextmaruni/The competition Grand-Prix 2004 Sean Yoo is an American designer who was born in 1968 and grew up in Los Angeles, California. He received a degree in Urban Planning at California State Polytechnic University and worked as a city planner for one of the largest city in Southern California. After several years, however, he decided to change direction and pursue a career in design. He returned to school and in 2000 graduated from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California with a degree in Industrial Design. He began as a staff designer for Round Three design studio in Pasadena and in 2001 decided to start his own design studio, Apt 5 Design, with Angela Tarasco. His works have been featured in many major design publications including 2003 and 2004 International Design Yearbooks and he has won numerous awards for his furniture designs including First Place in the “Concorso Young and Design 2002” presented at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan. He is currently living in Matera, Italy and is working for clients such as Frighetto Industrie, Jongform and Calia Italia. *Please get more info : nextmaruni/International design competition.

Shigeru Uchida URL : www.uchida-design.jp President of Kuwasawa Design School Born in Yokohama in 1943. As a leading Japanese designer, Uchida has engaged in diverse design projects worldwide from architectural interior, furniture and industrial design to urban planning. His major works are series of boutiques for Yohji Yamamoto, the Hotel Il Palazzo in Fukuoka, the Kobe Fashion Museum, the tea rooms “Ji-an, So-an, Gyo-an,” the Mojiko Hotel, AVIAMO series for Fujitsu General, and Oriental Hotel Hiroshima. His works are held in permanent collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Conran Foundation and others. His publications include ‘Mojiko Hotel Aldo Rossi Shigeru Uchida,’ ‘Japanese Interior Design-Its Cultural Origin’, ‘Furniture Book,’ and ‘Shigeru Uchida with Ikuyo Mitsuhashi’. He is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards including the Mainichi Design Award and Education Minister's Art Encouragement Award. In 2007, he was honored with Medal of Purple Ribbon.

Shin Azumi URL : www.shinazumi.com Shin Azumi was born in Kobe, Japan in 1965. After finishing his MA in Industrial Design at the Royal College of Art in 1994, he started working as a design unit ‘AZUMI’. In 2005, he established his own office ‘a studio’ in London. The clients list of ‘a studio’ includes Authentics, Magis, lapalma, Desalto, Muji, Guzzini and many other international brands. Shin Azumi’s work has received numerous design awards in Europe and in Japan, amongst which the Jerwood Applied Arts Prize in 2004, the Blueprint 100% Design Award in 2003 and “Product of the Year, 2000” FX International Design Award (for the LEM stool). His works were acquired as permanent collection by Victoria & Albert Museum (UK), Stedelijk Museum (Holland), Crafts Council (UK), Die Neue Sammlung (Germany), Museum fur Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt (Germany), etc. He is a lecturer of Kyoto City Univ. of Arts, Hiroshima City Univ., Vitra Design Museum Workshop and so on. He also took part in the jury of numerous design awards such as, IF Design Award (DE), DT Design Award (JPN), Design Report Award (DE / IT), FX International Design Award (UK), Kokuyo Design Award (JPN), etc.

Tamotsu Yagi Born in Kobe prefecture, Japan in 1949. He visited USA in 1984, as an art director for ESPRIT Holdings Ltd., an apparel manufacturer in San Francisco. He built up the image of the ESPRIT brand. His works, the visual communications for advertisement, such as catalogues, packages, products and store signs, were highly evaluated all over the world. In 1986, he was awarded a leadership from AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts.) In 1990, he worked for the exhibition of Amish Kilt Collection by Doug Tompkins, the former owner of ESPRIT Holdings Ltd. as an art director and also designed its catalogue. He became a member of AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale.) n 1991, he established Tamotsu Yagi Design in San Francisco. His design works are performed globally. Every year, no less the a hundred of his design works are selected for the permanent design collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His bottle design for TRIBU perfume by Benetton Italy Co.,Ltd. has received the CLIO AWARD in 1994. In 1995, Yagi had his private exhibition in six months at the opening of SFMOMA. (SFMOMA moved on January that year.) In April, the American Government gave him a prize, which is for an Asian contributor in the artistic field. Yagi often collaborates with architects. He consulted for the graphic design of the museum of Foundation Beyeler (architecture by Renzo Piano; a famous art director), and the concept design for the Apple Store. (Apple Computer Inc.) The sign system and the environmental display plannning for Hiroshima Naka Factory (a new ecological garbage incinerating facility promoted by Hiroshima city / architecture by Yoshio Taniguchi), which opened in 2003, is his latest project.

Tetsu Sumii nextmaruni/The competition Grand-Prix 2006 1971 : Born in Tokyo 1994 : Graduated from Musashino Art University 2006 : Working as a designer *Please get more info : nextmaruni/International design competition.

Tomoko Azumi URL : www.tnadesignstudio.co.uk Born 1966, Hiroshima, Japan. Director of t.n.a. Design Studio (London) Project tutor at Design Products Department, Royal College of Art (London) Judging Board of Good Design Award Japan, 2007 & 2008 Graduated BA Environmental Design at Kyoto City University of Art in 1989, worked for architects practice and moved to London 1992. Graduated Furniture Design at Royal College of Art 1995. Started partnership design studio AZUMI, exposed their design at exhibitions such as 100% Design (London) and SaloneSattelite (Milano) since 1995. As a design consultant, worked for Lapalma (Italy), E&Y (Japan), Guzzini (Italy), Biegel (Germany) and Isokon Plus (UK), as well as designed several exhibitions and installations. Spring 2005, she opened her solo studio in East London, continue works for existing clients as well as new clients. Recent works include; ‘Twiggy Lamp’ for Maxray (Japan), ‘Ro-Ro’ rocking chair for Zilio A&C (Italy), ‘At-At’ workstation for Rothlisberger (Switzerland) and ‘Muscicapa’ for Piege (Japan). Public collections include; Victoria & Albert Museum (London), Geffrye Museum (London) and Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam).