5 young talents selected for "UNDER 30! at DesignArt Tokyo
“DESIGNART TOKYO” is one of Japan’s most significant design and art festivals. Now is when new ideas, creative thinking, and actions that embody them are particularly needed, DESIGNART TOKYO, with this year’s theme: “CHANCE!” will showcase innovative design and art from Tokyo to the world. Varieties of creators and brands have already confirmed their participation in this multi-venue festival, and five fresh talents are selected for the “UNDER30” program that supports young creators. Here are some of the agenda of DESIGNART TOKYO 2021:
Five young talents selected for “UNDER30”!
Since its first year, DESIGNART TOKYO has been supporting young creators through the “UNDER 30” program. Among many competitive applicants, five international creators have been selected by the founders of DESIGNART.
AROUNDANT
Kentaro Takagi's "W-M project" is an attempt to create a new textile that is beyond anyone's control by combining the structure of a loom and the movement created by playing an instrument.
"Less than instrument" by Soichiro Tanaka is a lighting work in which a Led chip is embedded in expanded metal, which is a building material, giving the impression that there is no light source. Based on the creative activities that each of them has done, "purism" is set as a common theme, and two works that have been updated according to DESIGNART TOKYO 2021 will be exhibited.
Kathleen Reilly
Kathleen Reilly is a Scottish artist and metalworker based in Tsubame city in Japan’s Niigata prefecture. She graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2018 and is represented by Gallery S O in London.
Exploring new territory in how we interact with every day, artist, and metalworker Kathleen Reilly presents Oku, a new knife design made in collaboration with local cutlery manufacturers in Tsubame city.
ATSUSHI SHINDO
Atsushi Shindo works as an interior designer. His works focus on the primitive charm of unremarkable materials that are closely related to our life. Traveling around Japan made him rediscovered the diversity of design. These are fostered by nature and climate. He has found a lot of sparkle of joy in abundant nature and techniques in Toyama has visited Toyama a few times in these years. This exhibition aims to think about future design through the making process.
salt in
“salt in” is a design unit established by Shanshan Liu and Xiulai Zhou. They are both designers from China, graduated from Musashino Art University. Learning by trial and error, they are exploring the “seasoning” of design. People usually see an object as what it is on the outside, its appearance and senses, without suspecting its internal matters.
We want to pull the inside traces and expressions out of its external shell. By turning the inside out, we shift the scenes of production, usage, destruction, circulation, and restoration of existing products, to create works that convey a new common sense, while maintaining the impressions in the sensory and perceptual experiences.
Hiromasa Fukaji
Hiromasa Fukaji is Designer,Artist. Continuing the pursuit of original graphic expression centered on the technique of creating accidental expression using a plotter (equipment that outputs vector data). "Plotter Drawing" is a technique in which digital data is converted into physical movement by a plotter. Physical factors such as friction, gravity, humidity, and atmospheric pressure act to create "accidental expressions" such as blurring. Plotter Drawing is an expression technique that intentionally creates accidental expressions at the boundaries between digital and real.
From art to design furniture - Introducing the part of programs not to be missed!
Two designers and their unconventional approaches: Sho Ota’s wooden works x januka’s jewelry
Jo Nakamura, the jewelry designer of januka, goes beyond the conventional use of materials and techniques. In his flagship store in Aoyama opened earlier this year, works by Sho Ota, a Dutch-based designer/artist will be exhibited. Ota has enhanced his research at wood furniture atelier into his collection, including a stool called “Surfaced”. Based on their solid technical skills, the two designers taking unconventional and innovative approaches will co-create a unique space.
New works by Christophe Pillet
「FLEXFORM 2021 COLLECTION」＠FLEXFORM TOKYO
Founded in Lombardy, Italy in 1959, "FLEXFORM" is 100% domestically produced in Italy and offers the highest quality furniture with the excellent technology of skilled craftsmen. Antonio Citterio, a Master of Interior Design who has been supervising the brand for over 40 years, expresses a consistent and elegant world that is timeless. At FLEXFORM TOKYO in Minami Aoyama, the FLEXFORM 2021 COLLECTION will be unveiled. The designer intentionally stripped the design of non-essentials, to then focus on “the details, the precise proportions and masterful execution, inherent features that inescapably define the quality of that object”. new production “ANY DAY TABLE" & Also pay attention to "ECHOES CHAIR", which has added variations following last year.
“Tomio Koyama Gallery” introducing Shooshie Sulaiman with her solo exhibition
Tomio Koyama Gallery has long been in the center of the contemporary art world, and actively participating in international art fairs. In recent years, the gallery introduces diverse artists from established to young talents, regardless of their origins or genres.
During DESIGNART TOKYO 2021, a solo exhibition of a contemporary artist, Shooshie Sulaiman from Southeast Asia will be held. Shooshie, of mixed Malay and Chinese heritage, pursues the history of Southeast Asia, the culture of her home country Malaysia, as well as her own memory and identity through her works. Through diverse approaches such as drawings, collages, installations, and performances, her works often appropriate natural elements from trees, soil, to water that is native to the land. Bringing an almost mystical air in her works, she proposes complex and inextricably connected relationships between human beings, nature, and art.
DESIGNART TOKYO 2021
Date: October 22nd (Friday) - October 31st (Sunday)
Area: Omotesando, Gaien-mae / Harajuku, Meiji-jingu-mae / Shibuya / Daikanyama / Roppongi / Shinjuku / Ginza / ONLINE
Organizer：DESIGNART TOKYO Committee
The founders of DESIGNART: Akio Aoki (MIRU DESIGN), Shun Kawakami (artless Inc.),
Hiroshi Koike (NON-GRID), Okisato Nagata (TIMELESS), Astrid Klein & Mark Dytham (Klein Dytham Architecture).
Official website： http://designart.jp/designarttokyo2021/en/