Made in Japan

Lectures at iF design exhibition by Japan’s leading designers

“Moin”, said Mitsuhiko Kawami and surprised his audience positively. Kawami is Director Service & Product Design Business with Fujitsu. He was one of the invited designers from Japan presenting their company focusing on the topic “How Japan Design can serve society” at iF design exhibition at the Elbarkaden, arranged in cooperation with JDP, the Japan Institute of Design Promotion.

Next to the giants Fujitsu, Canon, Panasonic and Sony the company Karimoku was attending the iF design salon. Karimoku is well known in Japan designing and producing wooden furniture. The company was founded in 1940 and began with providing wooden parts for sewing machines and pianos. Today Karimoku is a leading company providing furniture made of Japanese wood such as oak, chestnut and maple. 99% of their furniture is produced for the domestic market, but there are also a few show rooms existing in Australia, Russia, the USA and Europe. Craftsmanship is one of their keys of success; sustainability is another important factor for Karimoku. The company tries to minimize the size of packages sent via container to other markets and is currently thinking about to use wood of those countries the goods are produced for – or would this be contra-productive? “Made in Japan” is a valuable sales argument…

Also the designers of Fujitsu, Canon, Panasonic and Sony were presenting not only their latest innovations but were as well referring to their companies’ history.

LED bulb speakers were introduced, LED light bulbs with 40,000 hours lifespan – and a smart technology developed by Sony called MESH: Make, Experience, SHare. MESH is an open platform which shall make life easier including having fun. Everything can be connected using different functional blocks.

In the discussion following, challenges of the Japanese market were analyzed, questioning the flexibility of companies and identifying the needs of consumers.

The iF design salon was a great opportunity to have a look into future technologies and products, which will serve not only Japan’s society.