designboom to speak at JAPAN DESIGN international symposium 'arts over the boundaries'

a reflection on japanese design at the University of Milan

In collaboration with Ishibashi Foundation of Tokyo, the University of Milan presents the second international symposium ‘JAPAN DESIGN. Arts Over The Boundaries’. The symposium, which will be held both in person and via live streaming on 13 and 14 October, 2022, focuses on contemporary Japanese design and its cultural implications based on the classical arts and in the fluidity of the boundaries between creative languages, from calligraphy and painting, to architecture and design. 

The two-day event brings together some of the most prominent Japanese designers and architects, as well as the Japanese and Italian designers who have marked the history of design with synergies and collaborations that have seen Italy, and particularly Milan, and Japan as protagonists. Among those participating are Kengo Kuma, Naoto Fukasawa, Giorgetto Giugiaro, and Andrea Branzi, while designboom’s founder and Editor-in-Chief Birgit Lohmann has been invited to present a cultural reflection on Japanese architecture and design.

‘JAPAN DESIGN. Arts Over The Boundaries’ poster

THE program of ‘JAPAN DESIGN. Arts Over The Boundaries’

After the first event of 2018, which addressed the theme of artistic exchanges between Italy and Japan, the University of Milan and the Ishibashi Foundation of Tokyo return with ‘JAPAN DESIGN. Arts Over The Boundaries’, curated by professor Rossella Menegazzo. The two-day symposium is divided into four sessions, with the first day offering a new cultural reflection on Japanese design. On one hand, it reflects on the artisanal and artistic production handed down for generations, which goes beyond Western categorizations that see a clear division between fine and applied arts, highlighting how the boundaries between the languages of art, design and crafts are to this day blurred in Japan. On the other hand, the second session of the day focuses on the evolution of Japanese design through an international reading of some key observers present in Italy and Japan. Here, designboom’s Birgit Lohmann will offer a cultural reflection on the evolution of Japanese architecture and design from an international point of view, while Interni magazine will speak about the Japanese exhibitions brought to Milan’s Salone del Mobile and the FuoriSalone, and AXIS magazine will reflect on both from a Japanese perspective.

The second day brings into dialogue the experience of the first generation of Italian and Japanese designers who, since the 1960s, have been able to create synergies and projects that were not existing until then, often choosing Milan as the city in which to live and establish their business, and the proposals of younger designers looking for new ways linked to the most advanced technology, but also looking for answers and solutions related to current social, environmental and economic issues. The sessions here will include stories and testimonies of life and profession, of personal relationships and decisive choices that have changed the international design scene by creating original cultural bridges that have lasted over time.

full list of speakers

DAY 1: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13

SESSION I

BETWEEN CRAFTSMANSHIP AND DESIGN: DELIVERING TRADITION TO THE FUTURE

Moderator: Rossella Menegazzo

10.00 Naoto Fukasawa – designer, director of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum, member of the board of directors of 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT

10:30 Raku Kichizaemon XV (Jikinyu) – Master ceramist (video interview)

10:50 – 11:10 break

11:15 Shuji Nakagawa – President of Nakagawa Mokkougei

11:45 Reiko Sudo – Textile designer, President of NUNO Co. (live from Tokyo)

SESSION II

EVOLUTION OF JAPANESE DESIGN: MEDIA, MUSEUMS AND STUDY CENTERS

Moderator: Ito Setsu

14:00 Gilda Bojardi – INTERNI magazine editor

14:30 Mitsuhiro Miyazaki – Artistic director of AXIS
Tomoyoshi Hasegawa – Editor-in-Chief of AXIS

15:00 Birgit Lohmann – Founder and Editor-in-Chief designboom

15:30 – 15:45 break

15:45 Francesco Zurlo – Dean of the School of Design, President of POLI.design, Politecnico di Milano

16:15 Kyoko Kuramori – Chief Producer of the Arts and Culture, Content Development and Production Section, NHK Educational Corporation

DAY 2: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14

SESSION III

DESIGN AS AN EXPERIENCE. INDIVIDUAL PERSPECTIVES, INTERNATIONAL VALUES

Moderator: Paolo Inghilleri di Villadauro

10:00 Giorgetto Giugiaro – Designer, Founder of Italdesign

10:30 Makio Hasuike – Designer

11:00 Toshiyuki Kita – Designer

11:30 – 11:45 break

11:45 Kengo Kuma – Architect and designer (live from Tokyo)

12.15 Tribute to Issey Miyake – Stylist and designer

SESSION IV

NEW FRONTIERS OF DESIGN: INCLUSIVITY, DIVERSITY, SUSTAINABILITY

Moderator: Corrado Molteni

14:15 Setsu and Shinobu Ito – Designers, The University of Tokyo, Research Center for Advanced Science & Technology (RCAST), Advanced Art Design Laboratory (AAD), Politecnico Milano

14:45 Kazuko Sato – Joshibi University of Art and Design, Kanazawa College of Art (live from Tokyo)

15:05 Andrea Branzi (Designer (live from Milan)

15:25 Fujiwara Dai – designer / Creative Director / Artist / General Director of the Quantum Art Festival / Tama Art University

16:05 Kosuke Araki – Designer 

16:30 – 16:45 break

16:50 Nao Tamura – Designer

17:20 Keiji Ashizawa – Founder of Keiji Ashizawa Design, Ishinomaki Laboratory

The symposium will take place in a mixed physical/digital format to allow speakers unable to travel to connect remotely, as well as an international audience to participate live via the University’s official social media channels.

The event will be live streamed on Facebook in Italian and on YouTube in Japanese.

Raku Kichizaemon XV Jikinyu, Shin (immerse, soak in), 2022, photo by Takashi Hatakeyama, courtesy of Annely Juda Fine Art | more on designboom here

exhibition view of ‘Mingei- Another Kind of Art’ at Tokyo’s 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, directed by Naoto Fukasawa | more on designboom here

Nao Tamura’s ‘Interconnection’ installation, showcased in Milan in 2014 | more on designboom here

Kosuke Araki’s Anima collection, a series of tableware and vessels created using daily food waste | more on designboom here

symposium info:

name: JAPAN DESIGN. Arts Over The Boundaries

organizers: Università degli Studi di Milano and Ishibashi Foundation

location: Università degli Studi di Milano, Aula Magna via Festa del Perdono 7
duration: October 13 – 14, 2022

concept and coordination: Rossella Menegazzo
promoting committee: Elio Franzini, Antonella Baldi, Rossella Menegazzo, Corrado Molteni, Giorgio Amitrano, Andrea Cancellato, Hasuike Makio, Ito Setsu and Shinobu
coordination assistance: Eleonora Lanza

with the scientific collaboration of: The University of Tokyo, Research Center for Advanced Science & Technology (RCAST)

graphic image: AXIS