Kenya Hara

Kenya Hara is an internationally acclaimed Japanese designer, one of the most interesting protagonists on the international scene. He graduated in design from the Musashino Art University of Kodaira in 1983, and immediately joined the NDC (Nippon Design Center). Over the years, he has worked for major Japanese clients including Art Setouchi Triennale, Kenzo, Matsuya department stores, the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum, Tsutaya Books, and the Umeda Hospital. In 1998 he also designed the opening and closing ceremonies of Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics. In 2001 he was appointed Muji’s art director by Ikko Tanaka, a master of Japanese graphic design who was its former art director. Since then, he both develops communication design and helps the company to formulate an integrated vision. He curates Muji’s advertising, apps, commercials, exhibitions, magazine, and packaging following the original concept that “sometimes simplicity surpasses splendor.” Under his art direction, Muji has became an international symbol of aesthetic and conceptual quality. In these exhibitions he often collaborated with some of world best artisans and designers such as Kazuyo Sejima, Kengo Kuma, Naoto Fukasawa, Jasper Morrison, Shigeru Ban, and Toyo Ito as well as major Japanese companies such as Honda, Panasonic, Sony, and Takeo. Professor at Musashino Art University in Kodaira. Member of the NDC (Nippon Design Center) since 1983, he became its President in 2014. Vice-President of JAGDA (Japan Graphic Design Association) since 2012. Chairman of the Japan Design Committee. Member of the scientific committee of the 21th Triennale exhibition in 2016. He received prestigious awards including the JAGDA New Designer Award in 1990, the Mainichi Design Award in 2000, the Icograda Excellence Award and the ICSID Design Excellence Award at the 17th Biennale of Industrial Design also in 2000, the Yusaku Kamekura Design Award in 2001, the Tokyo ADC (Art Directors Club) Grand Prize in 2003, and three JAGDA Awards in 2013, 2014, and 2015. He published numerous critically acclaimed books, focusing on the concept of emptiness in relation to both Japanese design and philosophy. His best-known books are “Designing Design” (Lars Müller Publishing, 2007) and “White” (Lars Müller Publishing, 2008). His texts have been translated in Chinese, English, German, Korean, and Taiwanese. What was your favourite game as a child? I rember getting excited about measuring things and drawing graphs: things like changes in the weather or sunrises and sunsets. What was your favorite subject at school? Arts & Crafts and Japanese. A typeface that you like. Garamond and Univers. And for Japanese alphabet, I’m currently designing my own typeface. As a profane, I consider ideograms more illustrative and latin letters more symbolic. Ideograms seem more versatile: You can set them both vertically or horizontally without compromising legibility. (Probably because ecah ideogram seems to be independent from the others.) In my opinion it seems that ideograms are used like constellations, whereas other alphabets are used like patterns. A piece of architecture. Peter Zumthor’s chapel in the Swiss village of Sumvitg. And the Dojinsai, which was shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa’s studio at Jisho-ji Temple (Ginkakuji) in Tokyo. Archivio Grafica Italiana is the first digital resource to the Italian graphic design heritage. Founded by Nicola Munari in 2015.