AXIS vol.151 published on April 30
11.04.28
Cover interview: ：Anthony Dunne & Fiona Raby
It’s been six years since Anthony Dunne became professor and head of the Design Interactions Department at the Royal College of Art in London, England. Dunne & Raby are attempting to draw out new aspects of design by expanding its application from studies conventionally connected with digital technology to a greater variety of sciences. Although the pair’s activities have been attracting more interest from the worlds of art and science than before, when seen from the framework of design their objectives may still appear unclear and difficult to understand. In order to explain that difficulty, we talked with Dunne & Raby about their aims.
Feature: Breakthroughs in Design
Achieving a breakthrough is a matter of pushing through an impasse and succeeding in making a significant advance. In this issue we introduce examples of design that attempt to address diverse issues and solve various problems without being swayed by conventional ways of thinking or making deliberate displays of eccentricity merely for the sake of being different.
Traditional Craft Forms: Tea Caddies
Kaikado’s highly functional tea caddies stand serenely beautiful in perfect balance. Kaikado Co., Ltd., founded in 1875 in Kyoto, was first in Japan to produce round tea caddies and has been making nothing else but tea caddies to date. Simply place the lid over the cylindrical body and it will slowly but smoothly slide down while expelling air. Demonstrating unyielding precision, these tea caddies also possesses just the right degree of hand craftsmanship. What makes all this possible is an accumulation of know-how fostered over many years.
Opinion: Hiroyuki Yamamoto, President of Maxray
“We would’ve been long gone if we hadn’t cared about design,” says Hiroyuki Yamamoto, president of the lighting manufacturer Maxray. As his words suggest, Maxray has engaged persistently in activities concerning design, including the development of original products, collaborations with designers, and supplying lighting equipment for many exhibitions. “We are quite particular about coming up with our own ideas for original designs and developing them, based on the theme of harmonizing light and space, without being swayed by trends,” Yamamoto says. We visited him at Maxray’s main office in Osaka.
Topics: Between architecture and furniture–Hideyuki Nakayama on his upcoming exhibition Little Big House
“The roof of a gas station looks like a table, and a bookcase next to a table looks like a building. What forms are hidden between them?” Based on these words that Nakayama had prepared for the exhibition, we asked him how we might go about deciphering the intentions behind the exhibition.
Topics: BMW on connecting with intelligent networking and the environment
How can the fun and convenience that the car provides to individuals coexist with measures necessitated by global environmental issues? Technological innovations in networking are on the verge of opening up new possibilities for the car, and BMW is positioning networking and the ecology as two pillars of its engineering. We report on where the company is headed as seen at the Geneva Motor Show in late February.
Topics:
Design Indaba 2011
The Thailand International Furniture Fair
1/9-scale microcosm–Reproducing historical cars through scratch modeling etc.
