Javon Johnson-Holland 12-15-13 Project Kenya Hara Kenya Hara was born in 1958, he is a graphic designer, professor at the Musahino Art University and the art director of MIJJI since 2002. In his career Hara has travel all over the world to find the meaning of designing, he is still searching for the answer as we speak. Hara has built Japanese design of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Nagano Winter Olympics, and promotion of the Aichi Expo. Hara got a lot of design awards and even release a new book called “Designing Design” which have een release all over the world.
His book Designing Design has been translated into several Asian languages, and in 2007 he largely rewrote it for translation into English, for publication by Lars M?ller Publishers, Switzerland Hara has work together with different creators all around the world, giving them projects to do in Japan, and this can help build the next generation of design network in Japan. Kenya is a very smart man and cares about life, and that’s where he gets his ideals from.
Hara quoted “Design is not the act of amazing an audience with the ovelty of forms or materials; it is the originality that rrepeatedly extracts astounding ideas from the crevices of the very commonness of everyday life”. In his career he work on not only the Matsuya Ginza department store visual brand, but also its exterior and interiors spatial design, packaging design, and its advisement design. One of Hara biggest Influence is a Japanese/American artist and landscape name Isamu Nuguchi , Hara said he likes the way he think and his work feels very Japanese.
It also gives off a lot of raw emotion bringing Isamu work to life. In 2001 Hara Just began working as a director Nippon Design Center and was still just trying to find the answer of Designing, with the help of positive co-workers. Working with MuJi was a huge step in his career, and he believe he made the right choice becoming a member of the Muli Corporation. Kenya Hara, alongside Nato Fukasawa one of the leading design personalities in Japan, has also called attention to himself with exhibitions such as “Re-Design: The Daily Products of the 21st Century’ of 2000.
Today Hara designed architecture for dogs for example, making a lywood doghouse, he said he wanted to recapture our collective sense of smell and tactility from a dogs point of view. Ultimately this is not about pets, but how we perceive things. I might work on architecture for sleep or swimming, which would give us new ideas about the subconscious and about movement. Hara likes a lot Asian Art, he collects the Chinese Song Dynasty, and anything between the Momoyama and Muromoyama eras in Japan. He likes China and its past. In Magazine. om He stated; Before the Han Dynasties, about 206 B. C. -220 A. D. that is, before Mongolia was unified. I like the China that was a multitude of countries, before the colors on the palette were mixed into grey. The China of that time was made up 0T people wno put numan wlsaom to work to make sure tnelr countrles weren’t destroyed. But even after China was unified, there were emperors with good taste. With an emperor with both good taste and power, the culture changes drastically. The Song Dynasty [960-1279 A. D. ] was one of those. As was the Tang [618-907 A. D. . So I like the antiques from these eras. The Chinese are not Just a bunch of people who are working for cheap to build up their infrastructure; there’s an amazing treasure in their sleeping culture. And as the Chinese begin to recognize that one person at a time, their country is going to become really interesting. I don’t think it will split up, but will become more like the US, with the formation of four or five states, and then China will be easier to understand. From now on, it’s going to be the Asian era, not Just China but Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia.
But today it’s a completely different China. Ideologically, they aren’t connected with those of the past; there’s been a huge gap in the culture. But surely as modernism advances, the culture will advance ideologically, and so will research into the past. I’m convinced that the Chinese will quickly awaken to their culture and it will change a lot. One of my favorite’s designs from Hara is the fruit skins containers he made which is very unique in its design. I want one of those Just to display it in my room. Its’ Just different and something I haven’t seen this kind of design before.
If you look at the containers it feel like they are brought to life, from the designer that’s what I got from it. Other than that I like what Hara said in this newarticle: Kenya Hara: When a fragile beauty is hidden inside, we hesitate to touch, for fear of spoiling or breaking it. At that moment of hesitation, we perceive the object a little more sensitively and delicately than usual. I believe it’s important to communicate so that I allow the other person to experience this perception, because given the chance, we will try to precisely understand even a message delivered in a whisper.
