Interviews med Jun Nakano

I started designing furniture about 30 years ago. I have no professional education in design.

I became a designer out of necessity for furniture making and crafts.

I became a designer without even realizing it.

I design not only for external beauty, but also for functionality and convenience.

I am still in the process of growing up, taking a long way. I think there are many young people with outstanding talent.

I don't know.

I think it is ultimately subjective to the viewer.

Because good design contains the means to solve things. There is no reason not to invest in design when it allows people to spend time in a useful way.

I would design things like tableware. Everyday objects for all kinds of people.

I haven't given up on anything yet.

I don't know, so if you have a secret, please let me know.

I can't name any specifics. There are some great designs that I don't know who designed.

I try not to be influenced by any particular designer.

I am currently designing a chair for an elderly person. It features a chair that allows an elderly person with weak legs to stand and sit comfortably. The chair is also designed to be comfortable for paraplegics.

You have to learn more than just design. There are many things to learn about materials, processes, economics, laws, etc.

Musician.

Something that enriches our lives.

My family.

Curiosity.

None in particular. I did a lot of things in a roundabout way and found myself with a level of skill that allowed me to win design awards.

I think that competing for design awards is a great way to showcase your designs to the world at large.

A chair for the elderly.

After I die, my designs and the products inspired by them will be handed down to the next generation.

I don't know.

If it is only convenient and not beautiful, it will be replaced by something convenient and beautiful. I believe that is how the world develops.

First of all, I am looking forward to getting a good evaluation for my most recent design.

I have not been satisfied yet.

I don't know.

I don't know.

I work on a project from one month to three years at a time.

I pick up where things could be improved.

To keep learning. Embrace new technologies.

I hope that design sets the trends.

It helps with efficiency, but it is also important to know traditional techniques and rules of thumb.

I use fusion360 for 3D CAD, and I also use illustration software and blender to create animations.

Color, materials, and ambient have a great influence on the space and the user's perception of it.

Ask anything you want.

I admire designers who are able to discover new things and apply them to their designs.

I am an individual designer, so I don't have a partner. Sometimes it is good to have other people's opinions, but it is also a pledge of freedom.

I do not know.

None in particular.

I developed them while doing various works.

I like to talk extensively with people from different languages and cultures.

The awards are proof that I have successfully communicated my ideas. The goal is not to be famous, but I think it is very difficult to be famous.

Being surrounded by nature.

There are many troubles that come with it, and I don't want to stop talking about them.

Feedback from clients.

I had no idea.

I hope that 1000 years from now there will still be things that have their roots in my designs.

Ask anything you want.

I originally studied woodworking with the goal of becoming a craft artist. I believe that craft is the artistic expression of everyday objects. This means that it is not only about production, but also about design, which inevitably requires me to be a designer.

My design studio is privately owned and operated, and I do everything from design to prototyping. I do not only design the shape of the product, but also anticipate the production process.

It is an added value and functionality. I am conscious of including not only beauty but also the "reason" for the shape of the design.

Furniture.

Chair. Chairs offer the most design freedom of any piece of furniture and still have the potential to be innovative in design.

A chair with two legs.

Although wood is the basic material, they do not hesitate to incorporate new technologies, including the use of metal and resin, as well as 3D printing in the prototyping stage.

It is when a new technology works as imagined.

Functionality. Whether the form is necessary for its function. I try not to design something that is meaningless just for the sake of beauty.

I feel elated, but we do not let our emotions get the better of us and calmly consider the situation.

I think that there is still something we can convey, and we use this as a driving force for the next design.

I do not know yet.

It is why the design is the way it is. For example, when designing a lighting fixture, we first consider what kind of shadow we want to create.

Do not waste materials. Be able to make repairs and repairs. They must be reusable.

While I believe that the fields in which AI can play a role will surely expand, I believe it is important not to degenerate human creativity, which AI cannot do, by relying on AI.

Last time we exhibited in Tokyo, but I would consider exhibiting overseas if the opportunity arises.

In recent years, I have designed a series of chair designs inspired by the silhouettes of letters. The sources of inspiration are endless, such as flowers and creatures of nature.

In chair design, the market is full of products that are just slight modifications of existing designs. I try to be conscious of creating rather than rearranging.

I live in Japan. Japan has many historical wooden structures and values harmony with nature. However, I feel that it is conservative and difficult to appreciate new things. That is why I am applying for international design awards.

For patents and design rights, a license agreement is concluded.

Companies tend to equate their own ideas with the designer's work and disregard the designer's design itself. Without respect for designers, better products will not be created. We also tell them that they cannot do a good job with a designer who is not confident in his or her own design.

The first step in my design process is to find the problem of what I am trying to create. Then, I think about the form needed to solve the problem, and the design comes together.

It is difficult to name specifics.

I do things differently every day, not stuck in a set routine. This is because I do not only design, but also do prototyping and small-scale production.

It is to be interested in many things, not just design. For example, law. Copyright is an important knowledge for designers.

The plus side is the possibility of preserving one's own design for future generations. The downside is that it is difficult to achieve results.

I don't have a set golden rule.

Intellectual curiosity.

Paper and pencil. illustration software, 3DCAD, etc. are installed on the PC.

The most time-consuming part is verifying the details.

It runs concurrently from 1 month to 3 years.

How did you come up with that?

What is important to me is working with clients who trust me and entrust me with everything.

I cannot name a specific client.

My future plans are always changing in the future.

About my award-winning design.

One day I was sitting in an aligned chair. In front of me I could see the back of the chair in front of me. The idea occurred to me that it would be more efficient to stack the many chairs in this row from the back in order to clear them out.

The structure, which can be stacked from behind, is patented. This means that the patent office has recognized that this structure has never existed before. However, there was a problem of strength, especially in the case of wooden chairs. Therefore, to prevent the load from being concentrated in one point, several parts were thinly shaved so that the load would be dispersed by the elasticity of the wood.

I have mastered traditional Japanese woodworking techniques and make my own prototypes to realize my ideas.In doing so, I put together a design while also envisioning the production process and efficiency of the product. The result is an innovative chair with a simple structure.

I have researched a great deal of literature in order to obtain a patent. I then applied for a patent so that I would not be unable to use the idea myself. In other words, I obtained a patent to protect myself.

Many chairs that can be nested like shopping carts have been designed in the past, but these chairs have movable parts that allow the seat to flip up and down. These have moving parts that can be raised and lowered, which complicates the structure and increases cost.The important part of the structure is very simple, so I tried to create a design that would not compromise that.

In recent years I have designed a number of chairs inspired by letterforms. When I design a chair, I design from the silhouette and the shadows that the chair casts in the light. I am working on a variety of ideas, including chairs that cast beautiful shadows even when no one is sitting in them, and chairs that become complete when a person sits in them.

Chairs with many complex curves cause many problems in the production process; we have designed a good combination of three-dimensional and two-dimensional structures to achieve cost reductions. And its simple structure leads to ease of repair, aiming for longer use through repair.

When I came up with this structure in 2019, it was a two-legged chair. And the chair, named [8], won the Reddot design award in Germany in 2021.The design of that chair was very simple but very challenging for a chair. The THA Chair was designed as a more common chair with four legs.

I specialize in wooden furniture design, but am currently in the process of designing metal chairs and desks for the office. These can be mixed and stacked despite their different designs.I hope that these furniture pieces will be used in various places in the future.

The fact that the THA chair won the Bronze A Design Award proves that my ideas are not only applicable in Japan.I am very proud of the fact that the chair has become a catalyst for the spread of various designs around the world, and I see a lot of potential for the future.