I’ve been mildly obsessed with strips recently so you’ll understand why this fantastic idea caught my eye. SPREAD, a creative team set up by Hirokazu Kobayashi and Haruna Yamada, launched a project called Life Stripe in which they assign a single color with certain daily activities and express a 24-hour day using different color bands.
The project, which is now in its 6th year, has received roughly 15,000 Life Stripes from a wide cross-section of society including a pregnant woman, a baby, a taxi driver, a private detective and on Okapi. 114 different Life Stripes will be on display through August 7th at Traumaris Space, located inside NADiff in Shibuya.
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Life Stripe Traumaris Space [NADiff 3F] (Gmap)
07.14.2011 – 08.07
16:00-24:00 (Sundays 14:00-22:00; closed Mondays)
FREE
July 21, 2011 / Johnny / Comments Off on Ryuichi Ogino | Idealistically Hypocritical 8
images of work installed via Flickr. Click to enlarge
I’m really loving Ryuichi Ogino’s work, which is on display right now at Galerie Agathe Hélion & Clear in Paris, through the end of this week. I’m especially digging the triptychs that combine elements of pop and casual doodles, occasionally intertwined with abstract expressionism in the vein of Barnett Newman.
Or…maybe I’m just drawn to the simple fact that installing his work in any room would make it look like a color bomb was detonated, rendering the room awesome.
Ogi, as he is more commonly known, has been heavily influenced by Takashi Murakami’s superflat movement. He has been quoted as saying that “superflat is not just about flatness in terms of dimensionality — the removal of highs and lows, but is also about a removal of ‘context’ ”.
Ryuichi Ogino is was born in 1978 and grew up in Tokyo surrounded by Japan’s pop culture (anime/manga such as Gundam and Nausicaa). He moved to the west coast where he obtained his BFA from California College of Arts & Crafts in 2004. He is currently based out of California and Tokyo.
July 21, 2011 / Johnny / Comments Off on Evolution Eraser by Hiroyuki Shiratori
click to enlarge
Japanese product design label h concept (you remember cupmen, of course) just announced several new products and one that caught my eye was this evolution eraser (315 yen). It was designed by Hiroyuki Shiratori, who shares a funny story behind the idea. He was studying German language but his awful grammar forced him to use his eraser more than he would have liked. Having grown tired of the mundane act of erasing, he decided to create an eraser that “evolved” the more you use it.
Start from the ape and work your way towards human, or start from human and work your way backwards. Imagine the repercussions if you sent your child to an ultra-conservative school with one of these!
Naoki Sakai, the self-described “concepter” and man behind several successful conceptualizations (as he might call them) including Nissan’s Be-1 (1987) and KDDI’s au design project (2005~), has launched his own product design label titled NS_CONCEPT. Their first product launch is NS CONCEPT WATCH designed by Nao Tamura in collaboration with Seiko. The brand is having a launch exhibition that opens tomorrow at EYE OF GYRE in Harajuku so you can go check out this gorgeous time piece for yourself.
Remember Junya Ishigami’s gorgeous KAIT kobo? Well your best chance of seeing his (arguably) most well-known work was to become a student at Kanagawa Institute of Technology. Until now. Thanks to google maps you can now take a virtual stroll through the entire multi-purpose studio.
Thought google maps only captures images from a car? Well in Japan they adopt the country’s most common form of transportation: the bicycle. There is even evidence. The bike rider, whose face is blurred out, can be seen below when his reflection was captured as he was pedaling through the school campus.
radiation levels surrounding the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
The Nippon Design Center, headed up by design guru Kenya Hara, has created 311 SCALE, an integrated visual language to communicate the effects of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11th. Visual information at its finest, 311 SCALE attempts to create a neutral representation of what happened on 3.11 by avoiding dramatization and opinions and simply focusing on communication.
Hypocenters and intensity levels of main earthquake tremors
July 18, 2011 / Johnny / Comments Off on Hayao Miyazaki’s On Your Mark depicts a post-nuclear meltdown
Hayao Miyazaki is single-handedly responsible for the legacy of Studio Ghibli and the creation of a range of heart-warming and thought-provoking films from Nausicaä and Spirited Away to the adorable Ponyo. And while it’s no secret that Miyazaki embedds his films with symbolism and underlying themes on topics like religion and the environment, Miyazaki himself has laregely avoided the active debate by maintaining a carefully calculated grey line between entertainment and activism (his tendency to evade interviews has also assisted him on that front).
However, in 1995 his studio created a music video for the popular duo Chage and Aska titled “On Your Mark” (watch it below). The MV was shown that year as an opening to the duo’s concert, as well as in theaters, before the showing of their feature film Whisper of the Heart. Running for about 6.5 minutes without any dialogue, the short film depicts a post-apocalyptic city in which radiation and disease have forced the population to seek life underground.
In an interview in Animage magazine (August 1995 Vol. 206) Miyazaki talks about his short film and the images of nuclear contamination, freedom and revolt that, in the light of a real nuclear disaster in Fukushima, reads as an eerie prophecy.
(translation by S&T. Japanese transcript can be found here.)
[the film] is based on an intentional distortion of the lyrics
Animage: the “police officer” and the “angel” – it reminds me a lot of the work of Mamoru Oshii Miyazaki: Oshii would keep us hanging on whether an angel would be born or not, so I went ahead and created one (laughing). But with that said, no one ever stated it was an angel. It could be a bird person. But that’s beside the point.
Animage: It felt like an entire movie stuffed into just 6 min. 40 sec. Miyazaki: I did fill it with a with cryptic symbolism. But it is a music video so I don’t mind if the viewer interprets it however they choose.
Animage: What is that grotesque structure we see towering over the peaceful countryside in the opening? Miyazaki: It’s open to interpretation. But I would hope that the truck with the radiation warning symbol on it that appears in the following scene would provide a hint. It sets the stage for a world that has become overrun by radiation and no longer livable. And yet nature lives on – much like the surrounding areas of chernobyl after the incident. It’s become a natural sanctuary where people are forced to pursue life underground. However, in reality people would likely accept disease and continue to live above ground.
I actually believe a time like this will someday come
Animage: Tell us a little about “On Your Mark” as a music video. Miyazaki: The title means ichi ni tsuite (on your mark) and it’s based on an intentional distortion of the lyrics. It’s set in a post-apocolyptic world where radiation is teeming and disease is rampant. I actually believe a time like this will someday come and I made this film imagining what it would be like to live through such a time. I would imagine widespread anarchy but also an increase in conservatism and a crackdown on criticism towards the establishment. But that’s because they believe there is still something to lose. Once you have nothing to lose is when the anarchy sets in and people begin dropping like flies. As a counterbalance we have things like drugs, professional sports and religion to help create an illusion, right? So naturally those experience a surge. Thinking about a time like that, this song itself becomes a cryptic message that hides its true meaning from the establishment. The film has a very dark side (laughing).
Animage: One of the lyrics, for example, is “wherever I go the latest cold gets me.” Is “the latest cold” code for a world enveloped with radiation or disease? Miyazaki: (without affirming or denying) if you look at our planet’s history, all of mankind’s problems are nothing more than the common cold.
Animage: To me the 2 officers who rescue the angel appear to be a thread of hope in this chaotic world. The lyrics, “and yet we refuse to give up…,” seem to be consistent with the repetition of the scene in which they rescue the angel. After many failures the last thread of hope rescues the girl, who flies to blue skies leaving the officers behind… Miyazaki: The girls is not a savior. And the act of rescuing her does not become some sort of channel for communion. If you have hope, or something that you hold on to dearly, but then are faced with circumstances in which you must let it go, you unclasp your hand and let it go into a place where no one else will ever find it. That is all. When the officer lets go, perhaps for a split second there is some form of communication that takes place. And that’s fine. I suppose the two will return to the jobs as police officers. Although I don’t know if they will be able to (laughing).
Animage: And the world they return to is the world enveloped in “the latest cold.” Miyazaki: In the end, everything must start from there. Even in chaotic times, good things happen, or things that make your heart beat faster. It was said best in Nausicaä: “We cough up blood and yet we persist, over and over, until the sun rises and we fly off into the morning like birds.”
Striped shirts, the ubiquitous yet timelessly classic fashion, just got a unique little accent. Design unit fift yesterday unveiled their latest product – a simple striped cotton button in various colors and patterns. Simple? Yes. Awesome? Yes. Each button is 735 yen.
If you recall, fift is the husband and wife design-duo Katsunari and Ami Igarashi, who brought us several unique fashion items like the Wipe Shirt with built-in microfiber and the infinitely customizable Pick A Jewel.
July 14, 2011 / Johnny / Comments Off on ToyToyota’s Backseat Driver app puts the back-seat driver behind the wheel
click images to enlarge
ToyToyota is a new brand launched by the world’s largest automaker with the hope of reinstalling a playful spirit in driving. Their first of several projects is Backseat Driver, a newly launched (free) iPhone app that, in essence, puts the back-seat driver behind the wheel.
Linked by GPS, the app simulates a virtual driving experience that mimics the physical movement of the actual car. In other words, when you make a turn, so does the car on your screen. Geographic areas appear on your screen as you enter, as well as famous landmarks. You can even collect points along the way and use them to customize your car (rare landmarks are worth more points – so fun!). The app works all around the world and you even have the option of posting your route to twitter. I am definitely downloading this for little Huey for our next road trip!
on the road
the “garage” where you can customize your car
The project was created by PARTY and, as far as I’m aware, it’s their very first! If you haven’t heard of PARTY they demand a spot on your radar screen. Formed in late May of this year, the creative lab comprises Naoki Ito, Morihiro Harano, Qanta Shimizu, Hiroki Nakamura and Masashi Kawamura – a supergroup, if you will, of creative all-stars from all corners of the industry including entertainment, product development, technology and advertisement. I’ve been wanting to write about them but have resisted the urge until I could get a sense of their work – and color me impressed. If you want to know more about the Tokyo and New-York based creative company that prefers not to be labeled an agency, check outthese articles.
