Yesterday marked the last day of DESIGNTIDE TOKYO 2009, an annual event held over 5 days.

The number of visitors to the main venue this year surpassed the number last year, and expectations among the many visitors were at an all-time high.

The interactions with visitors to the main venue and various satellite exhibitions were, for DESIGNTIDE TOKYO's exhibiting designers, perhaps some of the most rewarding experiences this year.

Thank you all for your support!

At the main venue, the wide array of products being showcased at the TIDE Exhibition and TIDE Market have received exceptionally positive reviews.

Picking up where DESIGNTIDE TOKYO left off last year, this year’s installment features an acclaimed venue layout designed by architect Makoto Tanijiri that has surprised and delighted visitors to the fair. Other highlights that have received positive feedback include the information center called “CH/air” designed by structural engineer Hirofumi Ohno, an exhibition by 6 photographers entitled “Tokyo Playground”, the Pingpong project, TIDE lounge and more.

Please don't miss all of them!

This year's DESIGNTIDE TOKYO was once again a roaring success.

DESIGNTIDE TOKYO is an annual event held only once a year – make sure you don’t miss either the main venue or the TIDE Extension exhibitions!

The TIDE Lounge, located near the entrance and exit area of the main venue, is where visitors to DESIGNTIDE TOKYO have been gathering day after day to talk about their impressions, review the works on display while looking over the official booklet, and show off their latest purchases from the TIDE Market. The Lounge is also where exhibiting designers take a break and have a chat.

Adorning the white cloud-like space of the main venue are spools of gorgeous fiber created by Antron, a fabric manufacturer that constantly expands the possibilities presented by materials and their designs, who have kindly lent their support to this year’s DESIGNTIDE TOKYO. We hope you take the time to listen to Antron’s presentation on these amazing carpet fibers.

TIDE Extension is a city-wide design exhibition held at various locations throughout Tokyo.

These satellite venues are presenting a stellar lineup of events unique to DESIGNTIDE TOKYO. Among them are shops that are launching anticipated new products to coincide with this period, venues hosting exhibitions by designers who got connected with them through DESIGNTIDE TOKYO and shows that were finally realized after a process of trial and error with participating designers.

We hope you take this opportunity to visit events organized by designers whose work you are getting acquainted with for the first time, as well as explore some venues in the city that you have never been to. You’re sure to make some unexpected and surprising discoveries!

> TIDE Extension information arehere

TIDE Market showcases products by 14 groups of designers that are available for purchase.

This year’s Market is again bustling with visitors. This is a rare opportunity to shop for products while listening to the designers themselves explain the ideas behind their creations.

We hope you take this chance to find out more about the design concepts and processes behind these products, while enjoying a spot of shopping as well. Your relationship to these items is sure to change!

TIDE Exhibition features product presentations by 42 groups of creators, ranging from established names to emerging designers.

The 42 booths showcase not only a great variety of product categories, such as furniture and lighting, but also an extremely creative approach to presentation that allows visitors to discover the particular appeal and originality of each individual item on display.

This year’s installment has again become a prime opportunity for visitors to experience first-hand the joy of turning a design idea into reality.

DESIGNTIDE TOKYO is an event dedicated to promoting the cultural influence of the city of Tokyo. Its programming also includes events that consider the manifold possibilities of the Japanese capital from non-design perspectives.

Tokyo is not a small city whose pleasures are open only to those with a high disposable income, ample leisure time, and the requisite emotional capacity. Anyone who can find nascent outlets for play and leisure hidden in spaces all over the city will be able to feel right at home in their own niche. These niches are captured in the work of these 6 up-and-coming photographers.

Don’t miss these “Tokyo Playgrounds” – a photographic installation at the main venue that will be on display for the duration of DESIGNTIDE TOKYO.

This year’s main exhibition space has again attracted much attention, surprising visitors and provoking a variety of reactions.

The installation, which was made out of cotton, creates a cloud-like space that allows visitors to wander around freely, enjoying works by over 60 groups of exhibiting designers.

Today marks the start of various events and programs that will take place at multiple venues over the 5-day period. We are confident that this year’s DESIGNTIDE TOKYO 2009 will again prove to be an inspiring event that conveys the earnest, creative spirit of these outstanding designers.

DESIGNTIDE TOKYO will kick off its first day with an opening party, to be held this evening starting at 19:00. Exhibitors, organizers and friends of the event will of course be present, but the general public is also welcome to attend for an entrance free of ¥1000.

*In the event of crowding, there may be a limit on the number of admissions. We appreciate your understanding on this matter.

Please see here for details on exhibition periods and times.

Ahead of tomorrow’s official start to DESIGNTIDE TOKYO 2009, the “CH/air”information booth for both the DESIGN TOUCH and DESIGN TOKYO events, designed by structural engineer Hirofumi Ono, made its debut in Tokyo Midtown’s Canopy Square!
Towering over Canopy Square, Ono’s giant installation has lost its function as a “chair”, instead serving as an art object that is sure to elicit a range of different reactions and sensations in visitors to DESIGNTIDE TOKYO. “CH/air” is also a tribute to the beauty of structural form. The sunlight reflected off it in the late afternoon, in particular, is a beautiful sight to behold.
“CH/air” promises to be one of the must-see highlights of this year’s event.

DESIGNTIDE TOKYO's notable designers comes to Tokyo from UK to exhibit in TIDE Exhibition.

One of them is Dotmancando who will present two works where the psychological situations of "Control" what we have to face as we live day to day became the background of the idea.
The other is Sosuke Nakabo who pursues the possibility that design makes people involved in it happy although design gives impact to the society and the environment. He tries to rethink meaning of the products surrounding us with broader perspective, more culturally.

It proposes things that is familiar like things on the desk. They are born with a wish of making our life better with wisdom and device, by reconsidering function or changing material. Although design gives impact to the society and the environment, it should have a possibility that it makes people involved in the products such as manufacturers, carriers, retailers, buyers and users happy. With broader perspective, more culturally, he tries to rethink meaning of the products surrounding us.

The idea of them who work on the design while always considering relations with the society will give you a chance to think the ideal way of the design.

The Pingpong Project, an initiative based out of Tokyo University’s Center for Knowledge Structuring that aims to organize and structure design-related knowledge through collaborations with experts in the field, is proposing an entirely new way of experiencing DESIGNTIDE TOKYO.
The project hopes to rethink design through the various possibilities presented by individual human actions – in short, an attempt to seek out the relationship between design and “group of actions”.

A special DESIGNTIDE TOKYO edition of the project’s Pingpong Map, which visualizes human actions and maps them onto a display, has been developed. The various actions transpiring around the works on display will appear in real time on this map, which will be installed in the main venue of DESIGNTIDE TOKYO.

Visitors to DESIGNTIDE TOKYO will see on the map not the colors or forms of the various products, but rather the actions and reactions they elicit from the viewer. By observing what transpires on the Pingpong Map, design aficionados will be able to rethink the value of design as a means of responding to user needs, as well as open up new possibilities in the design process.

Talk session
Title: “Creativity in Design and Information Engineering” (tentative)
Date: October 30th (Fri) 19:00-21:00 (doors open 18:45)
Venue: d-labo by SURUGA bank (inside Tokyo Midtown: 7F Midtown Tower)
Guest: Satoshi Hamano (researcher, Nihon Giken)
Speakers: Mizuki Oka (project researcher, Center for Knowledge Structuring at Tokyo University and project manager for Pingpong Project), Lee Myeong-hee (president of design team Matt, director of Pingpong), and more
Seating capacity: 70 (free entry, advance reservation required on website)
For more details and to make a reservation, visit the following URL: http://www.pingpong.ne.jp/DESIGNTIDE2009/
For enquiries, please contact:
Center for Knowledge Structuring at Tokyo University
Attn: Mizuki Oka, Eiji Aramaki
Tel: 03-5841-0462
Email:

"ASKUL makes work fun."
With this concept, ASKUL is making their private brand products and working with design. It is first time to introduce them with focusing on design aspect since starting the collaboration with overseas designers in 2005. ASKUL hopes to make people know and feel ASKUL design products through DESIGNTIDE TOKYO 2009.

And website for Askul Limited Store.has opened!

Please enjoy Askul Limited Store. at both of TIDE Market and website!


Products:
ASKUL Alkaline Battery, ASKUL Ballpoint pen, Office Cleaner Wet Tissues, Deodorizer for toilet, USB disk ASKUL limited model and others/
￥199-￥4,880(Price is as of Oct. 2009)

Info.:
ASKUL Corporation (call center) 0120-345-861
Mon.-Sat. 8:00 a.m.- 8:00 p.m.(exc. Holiday)

DESIGNTIDE TOKYO produces an information center that will be jointly shared with DESIGN TOUCH, another event organized by Tokyo Midtown to be held concurrently with DESIGNTIDE TOKYO.

In addition to answering the information needs of all interested events, we hope to create a hub at the entrance to both events where visitors will naturally gather. This information center will also attempt to realize something completely new and exciting.

With the importance of “structural design” increasing year by year, DESIGNTIDE TOKYO hopes to draw more attention and interest to the “structural engineer” who are indispensable to the practice of architecture. With this in mind, we have commissioned structural engineer Hirofumi Ohno to create a series of chairs that will become prominent landmarks and symbols of these two design-themed events. These works, created from a structural perspective, are sure to inspire wider, more inclusive interpretations of design as a discipline. With their commanding presence, Ohno’s chairs promise to linger in the memories of all visitors to Tokyo Midtown over the five-day period.

Hirofumi Ohno / OHNO JAPAN Ltd. profile:
Born 1974 in Oita Prefecture, Japan. Graduated from Nihon University as a Science and Technology major in 1997. In 1998, he participated in ENERGOPROJEKT in Yugoslavia, and in 2000, completed his Masters degree at Nihon University's Graduate Studies in the Science and Technology department (2000-2004). After working for Masahiro Ikeda Architecture Studio, he established Ohno JAPAN Ltd. in 2005.
http://www.ohno-japan.com

Makoto Tanijiri surprised and delighted visitors to DSEIGNTIDE TOKYO last year with his "Structureless Architecture" installation made out of unwoven fabric. For this year's venue, Tanijiri hopes to create an installation that surpasses his work from last year, and has kindly agreed to take on the challenge of handling the layout and design for this year's venue.

Tanijiri, who is interested in the ambiguous relationships that can be found in everyday life, is currently in the midst of designing an exhibition layout that will take into consideration the spatial relationships peculiar to the venue. The design promises to be at once unified and diverse, creating a well-defined space whose contours are yet somewhat blurred.

Makoto Tanijiri Profile:
He was born in Hiroshima in 1974, and established SUPPOSE DESIGN OFFICE in 2000. His work ranges from residential, commercial space, exhibitions, landscape and product design. From 2008, he bases himself in both Hiroshima and Tokyo, and presently works on many projects both at home and abroad.

http://www.suppose.jp

Information of the exhibitors will be uploaded in middle of September.