Tokyo Designer's Week

I just got back form a 5 day trip to Tokyo, primarily to attend Tokyo Designer's Week, which I had heard was one of the biggest design events in Japan! The main show was pretty cool, it was about as big as the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. There were quite a few Japanese design schools with booths, which was interesting. What impressed me more than the main show was the other design events happening in Tokyo, primarily Design Tide Tokyo which was a lot smaller, expensive to enter, and had some really amazing design work! It felt very finely curated, and all of the work and designers there were top-notch, plus most of the designers were actually there right next to there work, so I had the chance to chat with a few! Another big event was the Good Design showcase. Good Design is a organization that runs a very reputable modern design competition, and all of this years winning entires were on display. Taking pictures of the work at all of the shows was not allowed, so I have some nice shots of the signs, but only a few of the shows themselves!

The creepiest robot ever made was also on display. You should have seen the way it moved.

This tea and saucer set I found particularly charming! Maybe it's the peach color and the striking black outline.

Timed to coincide with Tokyo Designers Week, the Museum of Contemporary Art had a Dutch design exhibit on display. There was a room devoted to Marten Baas, who I have always found interesting, as well a bunch of pieces by Ted Noten, a Dutch jewelry designer. I don't know too much about Ted Noten, but one of his pieces was pretty fun. It was a bunch of identical pink rings, in the shape of a pig wearing a pearl necklace, held up on pins against a wall. Museum-goers were encouraged to trade a ring of their own in exchange for one of the pink pig rings. I traded a key I managed to find in the bottom of my backpack. I think the key was a spare.