What is the "Japanese Design Archive Survey"?

～What's going on with his archive? ～What's going on?

DESIGN ARCHIVE

Description

Description

As you all know, Japan is one of the world's leading economic powers. Even though it is being overtaken by emerging countries such as China, there is still a great deal of trust in Japanese products on a global scale. So too is the appreciation of Japanese design (architecture, products, graphics, fashion, content). However, the preservation and research of ideas and processes (works, sketches, drawings, models, etc.), the source of that "JAPANESE DESIGN", lags far behind the West. In Japan, there is no design museum or research institute that conducts research on design archives.
However, time is not waiting for us. With the death and ageing of the first generation who contributed to the development of Japanese design, their valuable design heritage is in danger of being lost or destroyed. In fact, the custody of many of their works and materials is the responsibility of the designers themselves and their families, but this is not a task that can be met by individuals. If this situation continues, Japan's precious cultural and industrial heritage will be lost and a void will be left in the history of culture and design. This desire is the motivation for this project.
The "Survey of Japanese Design Archives" is a survey of the people who entrust design works and materials (designers themselves, their families, staff) and the people who build archives (museums, universities, researchers), from the viewpoint of "preservation and maintenance of design archives".
But is a design archive just about "objects" such as works and sketches?　We decided to include the footsteps and design ideas of one designer, because we believe that the ideas and practices that can only be passed on from one person to another are also an important part of the archive, and can be left out of the "objects".
We hope that by publishing these records on the web and sharing information and knowledge with a wide range of people, we will be able to build a design archive and design museum in Japan.

＊ This project has been funded by a donation grant from the Ishibashi Foundation since 2016.

Director Yasuko Seki

Project

Project

Members

Project Members　

Director

Yasuko Seki (Editor, PLAT Director)

Members

Katsuhiko Abe (Designer, President of ABEZO)

Tomoko Ishiguro (Writer)

Aia Urakawa (Writer)

Keiko Kubota (Publisher, ADP)

Mirei Takahashi (Design Journalist)

Hearing & Report 1

Designers ＆ Creators

Footprints and archives now, as told by the designers themselves and those involved.
*alphabetic order　family name + givine name

Hearing & Report 2

University, Museum & Organization

Approaches and initiatives for design archives in universities, museums and research institutions
*in order of appearance