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Naoto Fukasawa

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Naoto Fukasawa
深澤　直人
Fukasawa seated on an Eames Aluminum Group chair (2012)
Born1956 (age 69–70)
Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan
EducationTama Art University
OccupationIndustrial designer
Websitenaotofukasawa.com

Naoto Fukasawa (深澤 直人; born 1956) is a Japanese designer, author, and educator,[1] working in the fields of product and furniture design. He is known for his product design work with the Japanese retail company Muji, as well as collaborations with companies such as Herman Miller, Alessi, B&B Italia, Emeco, Magis, Realme, and HAY.[2]

Infobar mobile telephone (2007)
Designs for B&B Italia by Fukasawa

Fukasawa has been described by Bloomberg News as one of the world's most influential designers.[3]

Biography

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Fukasawa was born in Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan in 1956. He studied product design at Tama Art University graduating in 1980.[4][5] After graduating, Fukasawa worked as a product developer at Seiko Epson until 1988, before joining the design firm ID Two, a predecessor to the design consulting firm IDEO in San Francisco, California, for whom he later established a Tokyo office in 1996.[6][7] During this time he collaborated with the English industrial designer Sam Hecht. In 2002, Fukasawa became a MUJI advisory board member, and worked on the development of many of their products.[8] After leaving IDEO, he established his own independent firm Naoto Fukasawa Design in 2003.[8] In the same year, Fukasawa founded the "±0" (Plus Minus Zero) brand of household electrical appliances and household products, focused on the design of goods that are felt to be "just right".[9] In recent years, he has several Italian furniture companies including B&B Italia, Driade, Magis, Artemide, Danese, and Boffi, as well several in Germany and Northern Europe.

He is one of the co-directors of 21 21 DESIGN SIGHT, Japan's first design museum.[10][11][12] Since 2012, he has been the director of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum.[13]

Since 2014, Fukasawa has taught Integrated Design at Tama Art University as a professor,[4] and previously taught at Musashino Art University. He also occasionally teaches and lectures at other institutions, both in Japan and internationally.[14][13][15][16]

Fukasawa's work is held in the collections of many museums including the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MUJI's wall-mounted CD player, Plus Minus Zero humidifier, and various Neon and Infobar cellular phones by KDDI),[17] the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (Hiroshima chair)[18], and the Philadelphia Museum of Art—which also staged a major retrospective of his work titled Naoto Fukasawa: Things in Themselves in 2024.[19][20][21]

Design approach

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Naoto Fukasawa on the cover of Icon Design, June 2018

Naoto Fukasawa's design approach is centered around the relationship between design and behavior, using terms such as "design dissolving in behavior", "center of consciousness", "normality", "outline" and "archetype" to describe his work.[6] His approach relies on observing how people act and react in their everyday, and finding solutions in these behaviors that link the design to the person. In his 2018 monograph, Fukasawa describes design as "attributing countenance to an object", in which the design is accompanied by the environment and the context.[22]

Fukasawa coined the term "Without Thought" as a philosophy for how design can be found in people's unconscious behavior.[6] Without Thought refers to how objects can feel important when seen for the first time, but only have their initial essence realized when being used. Ever since creating the term, Fukasawa has organized workshops to share his approach to other designers.

In 2006, Fukasawa and British designer Jasper Morrison curated the exhibition that helped explain their idea of the "Super Normal". The exhibition, titled Super Normal, presented 200 objects that were considered "ordinary" or to have been anonymously designed.[23] Items presented in the exhibition ranged from notable objects such as the Bialetti espresso maker to anonymously designed and mass produced objects such as disposable plastic plates. The term defines objects as being absent of identity, originality, and elements that leave an impression, leading to objects that appear ordinary. This design concept can be seen reflected in Fukasawa's work with Muji, where products are created with an anti-branding approach of not presenting any traits that characterize the object.

Select awards

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Fukasawa has won over fifty awards, including the American IDEA Gold Award, the German iF Gold Award, the British D&AD Gold Award, the Mainichi Design Award and the 5th Oribe Award.

Select exhibitions

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  • 2006, Super Normal, curated by Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa at Axis Gallery, Tokyo, Japan[31]
  • 2016–17, The Boundary between Kogei and Design at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary art, Kanazawa[32]
  • 2024–25, Naoto Fukasawa: Things in Themselves, Philadelphia Museum of Art[33][34]

Works

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Naoto Fukasawa has consulted and designed for several companies, ranging from home appliance retailers to furniture manufacturers. Companies that he has designed for include:

  • KDDI Corporation
    • INFOBAR Cellular Phone, 2003[17]
    • INFOBAR 2 Cellular Phone, 2006[35]
    • neon Cellular Phone, 2006[36]
    • INFOBAR A03 Smartphone, 2015[37]
  • ±0 (Plus Minus Zero)
    • A Light with a Dish, 2003[38]
    • Wire frame Houseware, 2010[39]
    • Toaster, 2007[40]
  • Muji
    • Wall-mounted CD player, 1999[41]
    • Refrigerator, 2014[42]
    • Electric Kettle, 2014[43]
    • Rice Cooker, 2014[44]
  • Samsung
    • N310 Netbook, 2009[45]
    • Multi Xpress7 Color Printer, 2015[46]
  • Maruni
    • Hiroshima Furniture Collection, 2010–2016[47][18]
  • B&B Italia
    • Belle and Bull, Chair and Table, 2018[48][49]
  • HAY
  • realme
    • realme GT Master Edition[51]
    • realme GT 2
    • realme GT 2 Pro[52]
    • realme 16 Pro Series

Publications

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  • Fukasawa, Naoto (2018). Naoto Fukasawa: Embodiment. Phaidon Press. ISBN 9780714876078.
  • Fukasawa, Naoto (2014). Naoto Fukasawa. Phaidon Press. ISBN 978-0714866031.
  • Fukasawa, Naoto (2005). An Outline of Design. Japan: TOTO Shuppan.
  • Fukasawa, Naoto; Goto, Takeshi; Sasak, Masato (2004). The Ecological Approach to Design. Japan: Tokyo Shosek.
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References

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  1. ↑ "naoto fukasawa interview". Designboom. 18 April 2004. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  2. ↑ "The Pao collection of lamps is an exciting collaboration with designer Naoto Fukasawa – HAY". Scandinaviandesign.com. 21 November 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  3. ↑ "World's Most Influential Designers". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  4. 1 2 "Naoto Fukasawa, Lighting Designer Profile". www.lightology.com. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  5. ↑ "Antiques of the Future, Naoto Fukasawa". mydesignlife.com. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  6. 1 2 3 "Naoto Fukasawa". Official Site. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  7. ↑ "DESIGN IN MIND: Naoto Fukasawa". Arkitektura Assembly. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  8. 1 2 "Best Practice, Naoto Fukasawa, Product Design". Red Dot Design Award. Archived from the original on 8 February 2008. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  9. ↑ "Company Overview | プラスマイナスゼロ" (in Japanese). 2 February 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  10. ↑ "Art Space Tokyo". 21_21 Design Sight: Tokyo Art Maps. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  11. ↑ Ashcraft, Brian (1 May 2007). "Without Thought". Metropolis. Archived from the original on 5 October 2007. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  12. ↑ Prescott, Judith (13 January 2009). "Japanese design comes of age". RFI. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  13. 1 2 "Naoto Fukasawa • POLI.design". Polytechnic University of Milan (in Italian). Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  14. ↑ "The future of design? Leading designers are finding it in Japan's artisan workshops". Domus. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  15. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa". THE LESSON (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  16. ↑ "International Symposium 'CRAFT AS RESPONSE ― Reframing Craft in a Global Context'". RCAST. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  17. 1 2 "Naoto Fukasawa". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  18. 1 2 Fukasawa, Naoto; Maruni Wood Industries (2008), "Hiroshima chair", Collections, Victoria and Albert Museum, retrieved 22 May 2026
  19. ↑ Bickersteth, Rupert (14 February 2025). "Ten highlights from Naoto Fukasawa: Things in Themselves exhibition". Dezeen. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  20. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa: Things in Themselves". Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  21. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa: Things in Themselves". Naoto Fukasawa: Things in Themselves. Retrieved 22 May 2026.
  22. 1 2 "Industrial Designer Naoto Fukasawa on His Creative Process". Metropolis. 19 March 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  23. ↑ Bartal, Ory (2020). "Mujirushi Ryohin and the absence of style". Critical design in Japan: Material culture, luxury, and the avant-garde (1 ed.). Manchester University Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-5261-3997-9. JSTOR j.ctvzgb83c.
  24. 1 2 "Naoto Fukasawa Not Just Winning Awards—Now He's Designing Them". Core77. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  25. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa". www.awmagazin.de (in German). 5 April 2011. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  26. ↑ "Royal Designers for Industry". Royal Designers for Industry. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  27. ↑ "What Are the G-Mark and Good Design Award?". Core77. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  28. ↑ "Collab announces the 2024 Design Excellence Award Recipient: Naoto Fukasawa". The Collab Journal. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  29. ↑ Suqi, Rima. "Naoto Fukasawa At The Philadelphia Museum Of Art". Forbes. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  30. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa". German Design Award. 6 February 2026. Retrieved 23 May 2026.
  31. ↑ "Jasper Morrison | Super Normal". jaspermorrison.com. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  32. ↑ "金沢21世紀美術館". 金沢21世紀美術館. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  33. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa: Things in Themselves". Philadelphia Museum of Art. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  34. ↑ Perry, Francesca (11 December 2024). "Naoto Fukasawa: the 'super normal' hero's new design show". Financial Times. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  35. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa Design | INFOBAR 2". Official Site. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  36. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa Design | neon". Official Site. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  37. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa Design | INFOBAR A03". Official Site. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  38. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa Design | A Light with a Dish". Official Site. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  39. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa Design | Egg Carton, Wire Basket, Toast Stand". Official Site. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  40. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa Design | Toaster". Official Site. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  41. ↑ Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. "Muji Wall-mounted CD Player, designed 1999; manufactured 2013". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  42. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa Design | Refrigerator". Official Site. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  43. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa Design | Electric Kettle". Official Site. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  44. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa Design | Rice Cooker". Official Site. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  45. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa Design | N310, notebook PC". Official Site. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  46. ↑ "Naoto Fukasawa Design | Multi Xpress7, Multi-function Color Printer". Official Site. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  47. ↑ Maruni Wood Industry. "Hiroshima". Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  48. ↑ "Table Bull -B&B Italia – Design of Naoto Fukasawa". B&B Italia. 17 April 2018. Archived from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  49. ↑ "Chair Belle -B&B Italia – Design of Naoto Fukasawa". B&B Italia. 17 April 2018. Archived from the original on 21 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  50. ↑ "Naoto Fukusawa". HAY. Retrieved 1 May 2022.
  51. ↑ "Here's the first look at Naoto Fukasawa designed Realme GT Master Edition". Pinkvilla.
  52. ↑ "realme GT 2 Pro – Designed by Naoto Fukasawa". Realme.
  53. ↑ "KDDI - Infobar". Mobile Phone Museum. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
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