June, 2007 "Report for Milano Salone 2007"

The international furniture trade show, Milano Salone, was held in Milan from April 18 to 23. Milano Salone, the 46th, is a global event where furniture manufacturers and designers coming from all over the world gather and present new trends. Besides the main hall, Fiera Milano (International Conference Hall), various exhibitions for new furniture and household goods were organized and held in period showrooms, galleries and studios. Vehicles, audio and visual equipment, hygiene products, and telecommunication devices were also presented, so it was like a general interior design show.

The key trend is more powerful design expressed in form or material by cutting out decorative factors. On the other hand, delicate motifs, such as flowers, cockyolly bird, or lace, trends during the last few years, have gone out of style. Instead of these motifs, Metal was the most-used material. Its colors are monotones, silver or three primary colors which generated cool and intrinsic impressions.
The photos on the left are stools named “ribbon” designed by nendo, Cappellini presented and a stool named “DEJA VU HIGH STOOL” designed by Mr. Naoto Fukazawa, MAGIS presented.

Japanese designers and companies have been becoming more active in Milano Salone year by year. Almost 30 Japanese companies, including Lexus, TOTO, Yamagiwa, Sony, JCV, NTT DoCoMo and MITSUI FUDOSAN made presentations this year. It is evidence that Japanese companies have recognized the worth of Milano Salone as a method of sending information. Japanese companies seem to present the trade show next year and after. (Kiriyama)

March, 2007 "MAISON & OBJET 2007"

“MAISON & OBJET,” the largest interior trade show in Europe, was held in January, 2007. 3,167 companies ran booths and 83,416 people visited the show this year. This is an increase of approx. 9% over last year. Recently, the number of Asian visitors has dramatically increased, as well as that of European people, meaning that this show is being considered of more and more international significance.
Also, Japanese presenters intend to increase against this background. BITOWA in Fukushima, providing elegant pearl-coated lacquer craft, KYOTO PREMIUM in Kyoto and YAMAGATA KOUBOU in Yamagata were representatives from “J-BRAND Development Assistance,” supported by Small and Medium Enterprise Agency. Presenting the products with a fusion of traditional techniques and designs gave them the opportunity to show the new faces of Japanese designs to the international market. These actions, finding a way out of traditional industries to expand oversea business, will continue in future.
Few products looked sharp or experimental, on the whole, due to the practical Trade show, but in “NOWS!” focusing on design offered modern products with a sense of fun. On the contrary, “Scenes d’interieur”, presenting high-class brands like FENDI or MISSONI, offered many well-made products using quality materials or warmly handmade products, feeling LUXE. Major colors are monotone, but green, blue and silver are often used as effective colors and make the product more attractive.
I worked for JETRO booth “JAPAN STYLE 2007 design meets craft” as the total producer. Picking brands aggressively developing products from areas by 12 materials was evaluated. Next “MAISON & OBJET” will be held in this September. (Kiriyama)

October, 2006

On September 10, la Biennale di Venezia kicked off on a clear and sunny day with a bit of a hot wind. Many people imagine that la Biennale is only an art and cinema festival, but my la Biennale is architecture festival.
To be brief, an art festival is held in odd years and an architecture festival in even years at la Biennale di Venezia. People from all over the world visit Venice for the festival. This is because it is a must-see festival to predict the following generation. This festival is an essential source of economic resources to support Venice. The theme of this year's la Biennale was CITTA (in Italian), meaning CITY. Human evolution caused lots of problems, such as growth in population, concentration in cities, environmental concerns and the breadbasket issue. How architecture can help respond to those problems is part of this year's theme. Although the age of the internet connects the entire world, racial problems and wealth disparity are still apparent. Architecture is needed that opens our eyes to these realities and makes clear our roles and responsibilities. Intoxicated with the lagoon city of Venice and its historical architecture, and gaining inspiration, I realized it was a good opportunity to get more deeply involved with this city. (Kiriyama)