Kenya Hara, Japan

AGI member since 2001

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Designer, (b.1958) emphasizes the design of both objects and experiences. In 2000, he produced the exhibition "RE-DESIGN--Daily Products of the 21st Century", which successfully presented the fact that the resources of astonishing design are found in the context of the very ordinary and casual. In 2002, Hara became a member of MUJI's advisory board and began acting as its art director. Much of his work, including the programs for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Nagano Winter Olympic Games and Expo 2005 is deeply rooted in Japanese culture. He produced two exhibitions titled "TOKYO FIBER -- SENSEWARE" in Paris, Milan and Tokyo, and the exhibition "JAPAN CAR" in Paris and at the Science Museum in London. Hara's focus in these kinds of exhibitions is on visualizing and widely disseminating the potentiality of industry. Several books authored by Hara, including Designing Design and White, have been translated into a number of languages, including other Asian languages.

Design work by Kenya Hara


    Kenya Hara, Japan (2001)

    Designer, (b.1958) emphasizes the design of both objects and experiences. In 2000, he produced the exhibition "RE-DESIGN--Daily Products of the 21st Century", which successfully presented the fact that the resources...

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    Kenya Hara, Japan (2001)

    Designer, (b.1958) emphasizes the design of both objects and experiences. In 2000, he produced the exhibition "RE-DESIGN--Daily Products of the 21st Century", which successfully presented the fact that the resources of astonishing design are found in the context of the very ordinary and casual. In 2002, Hara became a member of MUJI's advisory board and began acting as its art director. Much of his work, including the programs for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Nagano Winter Olympic Games and Expo 2005 is deeply rooted in Japanese culture. He produced two exhibitions titled "TOKYO FIBER -- SENSEWARE" in Paris, Milan and Tokyo, and the exhibition "JAPAN CAR" in Paris and at the Science Museum in London. Hara's focus in these kinds of exhibitions is on visualizing and widely disseminating the potentiality of industry. Several books authored by Hara, including Designing Design and White, have been translated into a number of languages, including other Asian languages.

    Publications

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    Ex-formation

    (2015)

    • Kenya Hara

    Lars Müller Publisher

    Ex-formation means to make things unknown rather than to make things known. This communication design method is based on a new concept: making people aware of how little they know. It is also an educational record of Kenya Hara’s decade at Musashino Art University.

    Description for Nippon no Design

    (2011)

    • Kenya Hara

    Iwanami Shoten, Publishers.

    Present the Japanese industrial vision to be visible and propose a concrete action program. That is the role of design activities across the area. This book, the summary of series Tosho (Iwanami Shoten) is the road map of activities in the near future of myself and Hara Design Institute.

    WHITE

    (2008)

    • Kenya Hara

    CHUOKORON-SINSHA,INC

    White is a work of Kenya Hara’s in which he tries to reassess white not as a color but as the foundation of Japanese sensibilities. This is a test, from the standpoint of design, of the study that runs through the aesthetics of books like novelist Junichiro Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows, philosopher Shuzo Kuki’s The Structure of Iki, art thinker Tenshin Okakura’s Book of Tea and agriculturalist Inazo Mitobe’s Bushido: The Soul of Japan.

    DESIGN OF DESIGN

    (2003)

    • Kenya Hara

    Iwanami Shoten, Publishers.

    It was 2003 when Hara’s overview of design, Design of Design, was published. This book, with its broad perspective that does not stop with the specialized field of design, is in its 23rd printing. With editions in both traditional and simplified Chinese characters and Korean, it has also gained a wide variety of Asian readers. In 2007, when the English-language tome, Designing Design, with expanded text and illustrations came out, a special edition of the Japanese book was published as well.

    DESIGNING DESIGN

    (2007)

    • Kenya Hara

    Lars Müller Publishers

    Lars Müller Publishers is well known among designers and architects for its intelligent editing. When this book was being made, the owner/designer Lars Müller told Kenya Hara, “Monographs ended ten years ago. If you’re going to put out a design book, you must be the author.” In the beginning, I envisioned a larger book than it turned out to be, but his advice changed my mind and the format was decided. This is not a monograph; it's a designer’s book.

    THE RIDDLE OF THE MACARONI HOLE

    (2001)

    • Kenya Hara

    The Asahi Shimbun

    Asahi Shimbunsha published, as a book, a series of columns that Hara had written for the Nihon Keizai Shimbun [Japan Economic Newspaper] from 2000 to 2001. It’s as if the concise writing developed for the short lines and small space of the newspaper is as easy to read as if it were melting in the brain.] The illustrations appearing on each page are by Kochi Hajime.

    PLEASE STEAL THIS POSTER+3

    (2009)

    • Kenya Hara

    SHINCHOSHA Publishing Co.,Ltd.

    After Please Steal This Poster went out of print, in 2009 Heibonsha asked to reprint it. Since this would be a second edition 15 years after the first, it was decided to add three essays (“+3”), leaving blank the intervening 15 years. These pieces, written while ruminating on his former writing style, look closely at Hara’s contemporary work. These have been published in Korean, simplified Chinese characters and traditional Chinese characters.

    PLEASE STEAL THIS POSTER

    (1995)

    • Kenya Hara

    SHINCHOSHA Publishing Co.,Ltd.

    This was the first collection of essays, serialized for about five years for the monthly magazine Shosetsu Shincho, starting in 1991. With the series title, Sore wo tsukurinagara [While Creating That] Hara wrote about his distressful experiences in the early days of his career as a designer. He wanted to use the series title for the collection but the editors said it was hard to understand what was being created, so convinced him to change it.

    Exhibitions

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    DESIGNING DESIGN: Kenya Hara Exhibition in China

    2011

    Beijing Center for the Arts, Beijing

    Zendai Contemporary Art Exhibition Hall, Shanghai

    Voyager • Gui De Art Museum, Qinhuangdao

    This exhibition, held in China, featured a collection of Kenya Hara's work up to 2011. The content of the exhibit was divided into three major chapters: finished design projects, collaborative projects with China that are just coming to fruition, and MUJI art direction. Displayed on three different floors, the exhibit allowed for a comprehensive view of the designer's work. The first exhibition was held in Beijing, then traveling in Shanghai and Qinhuangdao.

    Education

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    Professor

    • Undergraduate,  
    • Postgraduate,  
    • Doctorate

    2003 – today

    • Musashino Art University (Japan)

    Awards

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    • 1996

    Kodansha Publishing Culture Award
    • 1996

    the Japan Inter Design Forum Prize
    • 2000

    International Industrial Design Biennale Grand Prizes
    • 2001

    the Hiromu Hara Award
    • 2001

    the Yusaku Kamekura Design Award
    • 2003

    Tokyo Art Directors Club (ADC) Awards Grand Prix.
    • 2008

    the Japan Sign Design Association Grand Prix
    • 2014

    D&AD Yellow Pencil
    • 2013, 2014, 2015

    JAGDA Award

    Other Professional Activities

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    • Japan Design Committee board chairman

    • Japan Graphic Designers Association vice-president