A "mere" pencil took home the Grand Prix title while a tape cutter that also plays music grabbed the attention of judges in an international design competition recently.
The annual Kokuyo Design Award invites participants, with or without a design background, to submit user-centric product designs with mass appeal. Top creations are then commercialised and made available in the market.
First held in 2002, the competition is organised by Kokuyo, a household name in Japan for stationery and office furniture.
The 2020 edition of the Award, bearing a heart shape for its theme, received a total of 1,377 entries – 771 from Japan and 606 from other countries. Final judging took place in March, where one Grand Prix and three Merit Award winners were selected.
Also read: Kokuyo Design Award 2020: Inspiring creations from the heart
Taking home the coveted grand prize is a set of pencils with a past life entitled ‘Somewhere, Sometime’ designed by Natsuki Tomoda and Mai Miura.
What’s special is that written on the side of the pencil, crafted from scrap wood, is the address of the former building and material name of the piece of furniture that the scrap wood was part of.
“The uneven feel and stiffness, that faint scent, the scratches, those tan lines, the colour of the paint, the grain... You will find that each individual pencil is like no other, from the instant you first hold it.
“Memories only known to this wood are transferred to the pencil, and will live on. Try to picture some time that is not now, and somewhere that is not here, ” said the designers in describing the product.
One of the judges, Yoshie Watanabe, said this year, there were more submissions that appealed to people’s emotions compared to previous years, and among them, this entry made a particular impression.
“On its side, the pencil has a description of what kind of building the wood had originally been used in. People will definitely feel happy if they can preserve their memories in a form like this when their old elementary school closes, or they part with the house they grew up in when nobody lives there anymore. I also hope they can create a system that lets people share those feelings, ” she commented.
Another judge, Tsuyoshi Tane, said the design captured the theme very well.
“This work sends a nostalgic message of sharing memories, but more than that, it also questions the process of a consumer society where things are produced and consumed in large quantities, and asks if that is something that should change. The high quality feel and texture when you hold the pencil conveys that more than anything else.
“We’ve entered a digital age, which is precisely why it’s going to be the quality rather than quantity of things that shapes the future, ” he said.
Meanwhile, the Music Box Tape Cutter designed by Shouta Toriyama and Shun Yanagisawa won a Merit award. As its name suggests, the tape cutter doubles as a music box.
“We have crafted it so that beautiful sounds play as you pull the tape. The sound the tape cutter plays when you pull it helps you intuitively measure its length, so you can cut it to just the right amount.
“You can also enjoy listening to it longer than usual, for example when something good has happened, or when you have put in your favorite tape. This submission allows you to enjoy using tape sensuously through your ears and eyes, ” said its designers.
A product that will appeal to parents is Dearhearts, another Merit award winner by Yohei Yamakawa. When switched on, this brooch-shaped IoT (Internet of Things) device will continue to send its current location and SOS messages at regular intervals until its battery runs out.
“Parents want to know where their children are in case something happens, while children (often) feel rebellious about their parents always knowing where they are. Secretly though, they want to ask for help when something really happens. We wanted to answer those kinds of needs in parent-child relationships, ” said Yamakawa.
Drawing attention to environmental conservation is From Tree To Forest, created by Tuncay Ince from Turkey. A visually appealing and functional stationery, the design represents the relationship between tree and human, forest and society. Pencils symbolise the tree trunk while sticky notes reference tree branches.
“When we put the pencils side by side and nest the sticky notes together, they form the forest. As you use the sticky notes and sharpen the pencils, it reflects the destruction of trees and depletion of forests.
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