Japanese designer Oki Sato on his playful approach to design | Braun | British GQ

the Japanese philosopher Yanagi so ETSU once said make beautiful things make things to be used eliminate anything that is unnecessary is simplicity the key to good design these are some of the questions I'm going to be discussing with prolific designer and architect orky Sato [Music] Oki Sato is known for working on roughly 400 projects at a time his playful yet simple style has made him one of the world's most in-demand designers I'm on my way to his nen doe studio in the heart of Tokyo to find out what drives him to design [Music] what is a day in the life of okay Sato look like basically I wake up I eat I design drink coffee and sleep and that's it I guess designers are kind of close to a chef some designers enjoy working on certain kind of vegetables or kind of meat or whatever but I'm more like mother trying to cook something and you open the refrigerator and you find bits and pieces of things and then you just come up with new ideas so I wanted to design things really do you have a bigger white surface I think we should have like a grid it's so that we can control I'm really totally addicted to design when I start sketching when I see physical mock-ups when I see my products in the stores all these moments are so magical for me I've been studying architecture for six years and I really didn't understand what design was all about they visited Milan the design fair like architects were designing teacups and interior designers for designing cars and everyone was very borderless I felt that this was the place that I want to be I start from sketches it's like a stupid manga sketch the the the simpler the better I guess then we move on directly into 3d modeling whether if it's a small chewing gum or architectural project it's all the same to me do you agree in principle with the famous data roms Maxim less but better it's not about minimalism but it the idea has to be very simple less is better less is more but in my case an object has to be functional but has to be fun because the word fun is inside of function I guess I'm not really interested in colors or aesthetics but it's a story behind the object an object has to be talkative it has to tell an interesting story I want to have my ideas to be like sushi or sashimi yes fresh you just cut the raw fish and then you serve you should not hold your ideas too too long or you shouldn't not love your ideas too much how am where do you find inspiration as a designer I like to repeat things every day I walk my dog the same route they drink the same coffee when you repeat things you start to notice the slight differences in everyday life I feel that these become idea sources a project has to be environmentally friendly has to be user friendly it's one of the most important factors that you have to think about when you are a designer one of the projects that I worked on quite recently was a zipper it came up with five different zippers crossing or a zipper that you can open and close three different fabrics there's so many space for new ideas or even this simple and everyday objects making things better is its design we cannot work on 300 projects without our 3d printers in our studio but technology is very dangerous at the same time technology allows you to create things beyond your imagination and then you start to lose the most important thing of design which is the core idea and technology is about making things flat and smooth and making things perfect and what makes people interesting is that people are not perfect perfection makes things boring in the end so I think the next step for technology is how to make them not smart but stupid in the end making pleasant mistakes there is a capsule toy figure which is kind of famous it's kind of popular in Japan so it contains small figure inside so you have to make it by yourself so it's a toy that encourages a child to be a designer in a way yes quite recently we made a picture book for children as well okay and the main character is a Mudkip it's about explaining why the handle is or what the rim is or how do you see things from a different point of view and then the cop starts to think how can we stir the coffee and the self-awareness the book maintains that minimalist thing with that whimsical playful nature I think it's brilliant it's always about solving problems in a very pleasant way in the fun way you bring a lot of emotion into what you do so of course function is important but in the end it's all about emotions and you're definitely right you have a very close working relationship with the fashion legend see me act easy me FK yes one of the most incredible designers ever to grace the planet how did that come about he said that there was so much paper thrown away and I want you to design a chair for me and I always in a total panic I just received the roll of the run away paper from the factory and then I cut and peeled cut and peel and in the end it became something like a chair I told mr. miacca that this is not finished I have to complete this he said that no you have to stop here when you feel that it's completed it's it's not it's finished that opened up a lot of doors for myself a lot of freedom for me sometimes an idea for a mobile phone end up for an interior design or an idea for architecture in depth as a chair designer should go with the flow in the end would you have any advice for the designers of the future choose the first idea you start from a single idea you think maybe this is better or I can make it better this way and then you go all the way and you end up in the first idea so when you get lost in a project choose the first one because it's the correct [Music]

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Id: c3TPbj2_Xjg

Length: 7min 59sec (479 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 21 2019