Taku Hibino

Interview with Taku Hibino

Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?

I have a dream of making human’s life with einvironment.My father was also an architect, so I was always close to architecture and environment.

Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?

We are an architecture design office, specializing only in children’s facility and welfare facility, established in 1972.Now we have 520 works as children’s facility such as kindergarten and nursery, and 50 works as welfare facility for elderly or disabled people.Recently, we established an affiliated company which design and produce furniture so that we can try to realize environment with high quality by designing totally.

What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?

Geoffrey Bawa and Peter Zumthor who design connecting inside and outside.

What is your favorite material / platform / technology?

Natural materials such as wood, stone, iron and so on.And to use them in natural as much as possible.

What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?

It’s not until that people use the environment we designed and become happy.

From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?

Design should make human environment and their life comfortable. It should not cause to their uncomfortableness.We have responsibilities of designing in always considering earth environment and human life.

How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?

Our field, architecture and environment tend to use high technology, but the development of human is not changed so much for a long time. In this sense, it’s important to combine high and low technology well.

How would you describe your design style? What made you explore more this style and what are the main characteristics of your style? What's your approach to design?

It’s my design style that it makes people in mind and nature become much richer by making use of its environment and connecting inside and outside.These designs are come from my loving and respecting nature always.

Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?

In Japan, people have confronted nature and made use of it well for a long time. We have these senses and ideas inside the bottom of our body and mind, which gives us a good influence for designing.

How do you work with companies?

We always think about collaboration when there are outstanding companies or persons in some particular field.

What are your suggestions to companies for working with a designer? How can companies select a good designer?

It’s the way to understand the designer’s philosophy or belief and their works, and then believe him or her.

Can you talk a little about your design process?

We hear the request from clients, research the circumstances around the site and then give an answer as design.

Can you describe a day in your life?

Waking up, breakfast, taking care of my dog, go to office, work, back to home, exercise at sports jim, bath time, going to bed

Could you please share some pearls of wisdom for young designers? What are your suggestions to young, up and coming designers?

Architecture and creating environment are different from art.You should not be selfish, you should design considering the circumstances.

From your perspective, what would you say are some positives and negatives of being a designer?

Positive one is to make people become happy.Negative point is to be possible to make them sad.

How long does it take to design an object from beginning to end?

Depends on the project. But it may take almost 3 months at minimum to 2 years at max in the case of architecture or environment.

What are your future plans? What is next for you?

To develop our furniture company, and make the architecture quality gained.

Do you have any works-in-progress being designed that you would like to talk about?

School in Shenzhen, ChinaKindergarten in Chengdu, ChinaTM Kindergarten in Hokkaido, Japan

Extended Interview with Taku Hibino

Could you please tell us about your experience as a designer, artist, architect or creator?

The most important thing is I love nature. The education I have got, has respected me always. So, I was able to create and take action by myself, then my experiences have been piled. These experiences influent what I think and take action now.

Which emotions do you feel when designing?

Whenever the design is connected to children, the elderly, and the disabled, I want to be engaged in anything.

What are your advices to designers who are at the beginning of their career?

The evaluation point is whether the design is created for people or not.

How do you keep up with latest design trends? To what extent do design trends matter?

It’s that there are many regions which we have not been engaged in.

How do you know if a product or project is well designed? How do you define good design?

Because we are professionals specializing just in children’s facility and welfare facility.

What is your biggest design work?

Peter Zumthor’s “Therme Vals” The way to connect inside and outside is wonderful.