DESIGN

Following a visit to their booth at the recent 100% Design Tokyo event, part of this year's Tokyo Design Week, the collection of products from & Design has been on my mind. The unit is comprised of four designers (Tetsu Miyazawa, Shigenori Ichimura, Keiichi Minamide, and Maho Kusano) who have pooled their multi-disciplinary talents together -- everything from GUI design and graphics to products and environmental spaces -- to form something that seems to be pushing the boundaries of playfulness and utility in product design, or as they call it, "Characterized Design." Iconic designs turn ubiquitous items into things of beauty, like the Trash-box that looks like it popped out of the Mac OS, or the Icon Watch (pictured above) which does the same, the Dry-cell Light that looks like an over-sized battery, and even the Nekko vase, giving a graphic presence to a flower's roots. Unfortunately, none of their designs have yet been produced for retail, but hopefully it's just a matter of time.
http://www.anddesign.jp