Holiday Graphic Injection
A little later than I had hoped, however after getting some business put to bed I have uploaded this report of my weekend’s graphic interests.
I also have some short entries into the upcoming creative feast of activities in the run up to Tokyo’s Design Week at the end of the month.
The Good Design Awards Exhibition (Visit website)
The Design Hub in Tokyo Midtown
Naturally the awards cover a whole range of design fields and not simply graphic design.
Taking a visit to the venue alone is a very pleasant experience; not only is Midtown a very plush site, but also it is one corner of the Roppongi Art Triangle. The others are the Mori Arts Center Gallery, located at the Roppongi Hills Complex and The National Art Center, Tokyo. Download this pdf for a detailed map of the area. There are a huge amount of places to visit.
I have a particular fondness for Midtown as it has a concentration of venues within the vicinity and it was just built when I first moved to Tokyo so I became attached to it very quickly. As I will detail later there are a number of events being held here as part of the Design Week and I also appreciate the fact that the area has a mild-mannered mood by day and then by night… well, Roppongi by night – I hardly need to go into too much detail.
The Design Hub has always a relaxing and settling environment to enjoy the exhibits on display. There are also a lot of finely produced fliers and advertisements to keep art-lovers and those interested in the creative circuit to keep in the know. While I won’t go into my opinion of the awarded designs there were two particular winners that appealed to my graphic side. One was the small “Starter Kit” for airbrushing, and of course the traditional stationery staple of Yamato glue products.
The exhibition goes onto the 8th November.
Tokyo Graphic Passport – International Magazine Conference (Visit website)
Kudankaikan 12th October 2009
This event was great! Not only was I able to receive a huge amount of material from the +81 magazine team, but I was also able to have seriously creative individuals go through the thought processes and goals behind their publications, one after another, in front of me. The event space itself was great too. Very western in its design and traditional in its architecture that after a while I was ended up thinking I was at home listening to visiting experts. It was only when the Japanese presenters came on stage without any translators I came back around and had to pay attention to the Japanese.
I’ve also always been interested in how certain styles exist among presenters and of course among different nationalities when speaking publicly. That aside the presentations were from 11.30am to 7.30pm, featuring speakers from the Purple Prose magazine – Art Director, Cristophe Brunnquell; 032c Creative Director, Jorg Koch; Newwork Creative Directors, Studio Newwork, Fantastic Man’s Creators, Jop van Bennekom & Gert Jonkers; Intersection Art Director, Yorgos Tloupas; Art Director and Graphic Designer, Hideki Nakajima; and Werk Creative Director, Theseus Chan.
I was blown away by the quality of the material of these publications and despite a tiring day sitting on my back side, I felt incredibly enriched from the experience. Suddenly I’m considering doing something similar myself. Anybody want to start a magazine with me?
Its funny how work can impose itself so heavily on your own time and personal schedule, that doing anything but sitting in front of a monitor can seem like a far-fetched fantasy. However, once you can get out and about, even just once or twice, to see what else is going on, can be such a refreshing experience invigorating your own creativity. This is definitely the time for it too. With October at mid-point its high time that people take advantage of the oncoming plethora of activities in and around Tokyo for Design Week.
Design Week & Upcoming Events
DESIGN FESTA (Visit Website) (English Website)
Tokyo Big Sight
24th, 25th Oct.
International Art Event
Admission – 1 Day: ¥800/1000 – 2 Days: ¥1,500/1,800
DESIGN TOUCH (Visit Website)
Tokyo Midtown
23rd Oct. – 3rd Nov.
Theme: ’shaping a dream into a design’
Admission – Free
TOKYO DESIGNERS WEEK 2009/100% DESIGN TOKYO (Visit Website)
Jingu Gaien Aoyama
30th Oct. – 3rd Nov.
Theme: ‘Love Green’
Admission: ¥2,000
DESIGN TIDE (Visit Website) (English Website)
Main Site: Tokyo Midtown Hall
30th Oct. – 3rd Nov.
Trade Show that mainly centres on product design
Admission – ¥1,000
CREATOR’S PARK VOL. 1 (Visit Website)
Claska Gallery
22nd – 24th Oct.
Subsidiary event of Japan Fashion Week
Admission – Free
Just a little something I saw under the Yamanote bridge in Ebisu. Great illustration!
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