Best-known for his work as design director of Japanese brand Muji, Fukasawa has designed across a broad range of categories and media, from shaping electronics for Samsung’s global market to collaborating with artisan firms on small-batch fine furniture. “Things in Themselves explores Fukasawa’s unique language of form and his impactful philosophies of design, which he describes as super normal, outline, emergence, and without thought – the latter is a principle he coined to tap people’s spontaneous behaviours for design insights,” Fanning told Dezeen.
“With an approach to functional design that prioritises ease of use, aesthetic simplicity, and close attention to the ways mundane objects and environments record the traces of our everyday habits, Fukasawa has been an influential force in the design world since forming his eponymous studio in 2003,” he added.
“Fukasawa is already highly respected for the subtlety and beauty of his work,” said Fanning. “I am particularly excited for the opportunity this exhibition represents to explore his thoughtful, user-focused approach to design and his long-running emphasis on the ethical as well as the creative and economic responsibilities of industrial designers.”
Asari Chair, 2023, Herman Miller
“How often does an ergonomic desk chair make you smile? The rounded forms and unexpected upholstery colours of Fukasawa’s Asari Chair for Herman Miller are a cheerful presence in a category of design that can tend toward the monotonous.
“The designer cites the ever-more intermingled nature of home and work in the post-pandemic period as a key motivation behind the chair’s friendly quality – further underscored by its name, the Japanese word for clam – but its functional clarity also conforms to his longstanding belief that good design should be as intuitive as possible for its users.”
Bunch Vase, 2005, B&B Italia
“One of Fukasawa’s earliest designs for B&B Italia, this vase illustrates the current of humour that lies beneath much of his work. Though it first appears to be a sober, rigorously composed sculptural form, the vase playfully materialises the familiar action of grasping a bunch of flowers – turning an unconscious, ephemeral gesture into a durable object.
“With a shared belief that functional objects should enrich their surroundings even when they’re not in use, Fukasawa and B&B Italia would become frequent collaborators in the years following this early project.”
