Journal.

It may seem odd that Japan, a beacon of design excellence, does not have a dedicated Design Museum. If you travel around Japan, you will be able to see design collections in regional museums and in Tokyo you can visit 21-21 site or the Axis gallery for example, both of which have rotating exhibitions. There is no shortage of opportunities to experience design, but there is no Design Museum equivalent to ours in London.

As a designer myself I think not having a dedicated museum is a good thing, but putting that to one side, the simple question – what is Design Museum Japan? is the purpose of this latest exhibition at Japan House London. For a country that has produced and exported some of the most re-known consumer electronics, cars, clothes and housewares for decades, the task of deciding what is or isn’t worthy of a spot in a National Design Museum is mammoth. And I would imagine a political nightmare.

Each region of Japan has a meibutsu or speciality food, craft / manufacturing process that is unique. With this in mind, Kuramori Kyoko, the Director of the Design Museum Foundation and a NHK TV producer, decided to introduce the everyday items, cultural and historical artifacts and the prefectures where they were created, to the visitors of Design Museum Japan.

Instead of setting up a committee to oversee this, prominent Japanese creators were asked the simple question – what does design mean to you? In responding they have chosen artifacts which resonate with them and their practice and have explained what makes them unique to the prefecture and worthy of inclusion in Design Museum Japan.

To date nineteen creators have chosen artifacts, seven of which are currently exhibited at Japan House London. Others are currently on show in Tokyo.

The exhibition which had previously been on display at Japan House San Paulo and Los Angeles is designed to be interactive. Bold, colourful and seemingly random descriptions about the artifacts cover every surface of the cubic poly-foam displays, drawing our attention and engaging us with the subject. It’s more science museum than art gallery and befitting of design.

This exhibit is not a show case of the chosen creators’ own work but an introduction to their chosen artifacts and the context in which they live in everyday Japanese life. Alongside the carefully curated objects, notebooks and historical artifacts, there are NHK videos produced by Kuramori following and showing the creators engaging with the objects in the prefectures they are to be found.

These really help to bring the makers voice and artifacts alive and help us to understand something of the Japanese relationship with objects and ultimately why these should be in Design Museum Japan.

From the Jomon era (between c. 14,000 and 300 BC) earthenware pottery (stunning) to the more technical 2019 Rugby World Cup Japanese players kit, each visitor will engage with something different; but if I were pushed to choose a personal favourite, I would go for the Alienware cutlery (named for its other worldly shape) created by Yanagi Sori. He was chosen by Tagawa Kinya, who studied in London and founded the design consulting company Takram. Yanagi was a wonderful industrial designer who displayed such humility in everything he touched, exploring where the object wanted to go and what it should be through use and evolution rather than personal style.

Not only are Yanagi’s designs used by generation after generation of Japanese, but they have also become the standard bearer for Japanese industrial design overseas. I have a kitchen full of the stuff! In addition to this, Yanagi was a lecturer at Kanazawa Art College in Ishikawa, where I am also a visiting lecturer so there’s a personal connection to him and that prefecture which endears me to this example.

As mentioned, this exhibition is designed to engage the visitor with Japanese objects and design but also encourages us to think about our own culture. The team at Japan House London have, alongside planned workshops and events, created an interactive area in the exhibit space which encourages you to jot down your own ideas of what design is to you, and to then connect it to a location in the UK or Japan or anywhere else in the world.

As a final request, Kuramori asks us to fill the walls with ideas that will fuel further explorations of – what does design mean to you? Who knows your ideas may find their way into Design Museum Japan as it evolves!

Design Discoveries: Towards a Design Museum Japan is a great exhibit, brilliantly hosted by Japan House London. I highly recommend you go and engage with the everyday objects and experiences that make Japan so special.