Above: Visitors are given bright stickers to stick on a black container. Already after the first day, the container is covered with stickers.
I’ve always associated Japanese design with tranquil quality and attention to detail. An industry full incredibly talented, serious professionals.
This year I had the chance to visit Tokyo Designers Week for the first time and it flipped my perception of Japanese art and design on it’s head.
Rather than a museum-like atmosphere, the event was filled with colour, noise and movement. And the design and artworks were full of crazy ideas all seemingly driven by one thing: Fun!
To me seeing “Creativity” and “Fun” in the same context was like rediscovering an old friend.
In recent years my industry (the digital one) has grown up rapidly and projects are now big business that need to be justified with stats, numbers, assurances, case studies and so on and so forth. But by being so sharp at delivering value, are we risking losing the fun part that makes things as contagious as they are effective?
Many of things on display at Tokyo Designers Week were very interactive to the point where trying to capture them in photos was pointless, even video wasn’t adequate. But here are a few videos from the event followed by a gallery of photos from the whole Japan trip.
