product design
The traditional art of urushi (makie) was developed during the Samurai era, when exquisite techniques, training and great artistry were first applied to premium materials and tools to create what we know as urushi today. Urushi objects were top-end luxury products, appreciated and admired by the aristocracy of the 18th and 19th centuries.
After World War II, however, a shift towards mass production and mass consumption took place. Also manufacturers started to value “quantity over quality”. Today highly ambitious individuals struggle in the atmosphere created and the principle of “small profit, quick return” rules the market.
The same can be said of consumers. Instead of quality, many Japanese buyers aim for low-price, average products which must be immediately available.
Japanese manufacturers have been eager to produce maximum quantities at low costs, but it is high time for them to rethink their strategy. While outside of Japan the demand for high-quality urushi objects has been high and stable since the Meiji era, at last an increasing number of Japanese people have started to value premium urushi products.
In a world where everything looks the same, it is all the more important to create something unique. Something that would make a European or US traveler in Japan immediately reach for their wallet upon coming across it in a shop window. Something no other country can create, something typical Japanese, something like… urushi.
Especially makie, a typical Japanese urushi technique, knows no boundaries regarding the products that can be created in collaboration with artists of other crafts. Watches, furniture and illumination are just a few among the manifold possibilities to apply makie.
But what makes an outstanding product? The following criteria are critical for product design:
- High quality
- Perfection
- Originality
- Japanese identity
- The product quality must be at least as high as that of European luxury brands
My first experience with product design goes back to 1976, when the Viennese company Lobmeyr asked me to paint makie on crystal glass. In the same year, the Swiss company Caran d’Ache asked me for advice because they wanted to have metal lighters printed with makie. In order to expand my portfolio, I started to look for methods to paint makie on various materials such as wood, dry lacquer, porcelain, glass, metal, stone and leather.
Whenever I deliver a product I have created to a client abroad, I also have to consider that it will have to be maintained. Taking care of a product even after I have created and sold it is part of my job, which is one of the reasons why people decide to invest a little bit more in high-quality products.
After World War II, however, a shift towards mass production and mass consumption took place. Also manufacturers started to value “quantity over quality”. Today highly ambitious individuals struggle in the atmosphere created and the principle of “small profit, quick return” rules the market.
The same can be said of consumers. Instead of quality, many Japanese buyers aim for low-price, average products which must be immediately available.
Japanese manufacturers have been eager to produce maximum quantities at low costs, but it is high time for them to rethink their strategy. While outside of Japan the demand for high-quality urushi objects has been high and stable since the Meiji era, at last an increasing number of Japanese people have started to value premium urushi products.
In a world where everything looks the same, it is all the more important to create something unique. Something that would make a European or US traveler in Japan immediately reach for their wallet upon coming across it in a shop window. Something no other country can create, something typical Japanese, something like… urushi.
Especially makie, a typical Japanese urushi technique, knows no boundaries regarding the products that can be created in collaboration with artists of other crafts. Watches, furniture and illumination are just a few among the manifold possibilities to apply makie.
But what makes an outstanding product? The following criteria are critical for product design:
- High quality
- Perfection
- Originality
- Japanese identity
- The product quality must be at least as high as that of European luxury brands
My first experience with product design goes back to 1976, when the Viennese company Lobmeyr asked me to paint makie on crystal glass. In the same year, the Swiss company Caran d’Ache asked me for advice because they wanted to have metal lighters printed with makie. In order to expand my portfolio, I started to look for methods to paint makie on various materials such as wood, dry lacquer, porcelain, glass, metal, stone and leather.
Whenever I deliver a product I have created to a client abroad, I also have to consider that it will have to be maintained. Taking care of a product even after I have created and sold it is part of my job, which is one of the reasons why people decide to invest a little bit more in high-quality products.
