Founded by Toshiya Hayashi and Hokuto Ando, we+ is the contemporary design studio that will create a new definition of design in the future. They delicately capture natural phenomena and the social environment, and beautifully gives shape to previously undefined sensations, values, and feelings of incongruity. Some of the work that can generally be seen includes window displays for luxury brands, research-based exhibition presentations, and interior design.
The approach to reaching these works differs from the general design method that is based on backward calculation, and is arrived at through a series of hypotheses, fieldwork, experiments, and verifications based on the method of artistic research. Furthermore, the final product is breathtakingly beautiful.
Drought
Fragments of Society Revealed in Contemporary Design
Consistent throughout the procedures, output, and concepts of their projects is a skepticism toward absolute values. With awe and respect for nature and history, they question all systems, methods, and rules as a matter of course. Their work speaks eloquently of the fragility of the system created by human beings, and can be divided into the genre of “contemporary design,” which is a recent trend in the design world.
Design journalist Takahiro Tsuchida explains that “contemporary design” is a movement that has gradually emerged in the design world since the 2000s, when designers who did not presume mass production began to become more prominent. The history of design has shifted from the era of star designers to the era of limited editions, and eventually “the term ‘design’ has come to be used in a wider range of situations, and the forms of designers’ activities, the roles they are expected to play, and the methods of their output have diversified. The term “design” was used in a wider range of situations, and “the forms of design, the roles required, and the methods of output became more diverse,” and “when design included things without form, such as services and systems, problem-oriented approaches, such as speculative design, became widespread. Contemporary design is “design that is renewed,” and “its main value is how it transcends the norms and frameworks of the past. Therefore, in addition to materials, technology, structure, and function, innovation and originality of concept are important,” says Tsuchida in ‘Design Today: Contemporary Design Interviews’ (PRINT&BUILD, Inc.) by Takahiro Tsuchida.
Panpuri ©Masayuki Hayashi
It takes courage to break the norms. What has created their foundation? Co-founder Ando speculates that it was being raised liberal by parents who were teachers.
“My parents always told me that it was okay to accept school education from a different angle, instead of taking it head-on, Ando said. Perhaps because of this, I have always felt since I was a child that the answer does not have to be limited to “1+1=2”.”
In high school, he spent time in an art preparation room with a collection of Shigeo Fukuda’s works, and under the influence of a radical teacher (like the teacher in Seishiro Imawano’s song “My Favorite Teacher”), he entered the spatial design department at Musashino Art University. He developed his viewpoints in an environment where Super Potato’s Takashi Sugimoto and Kazuko Koike taught him, and spent his youth influenced by the ideas of Fluxus in the 1960’s, art can be a counter to the existing context, and the works of Yoko Ono.
Co-founder Hayashi, who went to university from Toyama Prefecture, was involved in the performing arts and manufacturing, but felt uncomfortable about entering society and entering economic activities.
“For more than 20 years, companies have continued normal economic activities on the other side of the world where environmental destruction is being called for around the world, and they are talking about sales and profits. I was unable to come to terms with this gap, and I was left feeling bewildered for a long time, but then I saw a ray of light in the Jomon period, which I encountered through my work for a prefecture in the Tohoku region.”
“The Jomon period is said to have lasted for 12,000 years, and from the highly technical earthenware excavated, one can imagine that there was a stable and prosperous lifestyle that allowed people to have enough energy to pursue their own molding. I thought that in this day and age, when we are so focused on “different directions,” it might be useful to incorporate a little of the essence of the Jomon into our own work.”
What is we+'s artistic investigation based on research
“’General research’ is the first stage of ‘desktop research’ to gather information, but design research is perhaps a bit different. Design research is probably a bit different. It is a form of analyzing the object to be researched in a very objective manner and extracting elements from it, so there is not much subjectivity involved. Artistic research, on the other hand, allows us to extract information from our own viewpoints, so it is an extremely subjective method where what is or is not interesting is determined by our own personalities and rules of thumb.” Says Ando.
“If there is something unique about our artistic research, I think it is the way we communicate. I am proud to say that the artistic aspect of our artistic research is to convey what we have obtained by mobilizing all of our senses, appealing to all five senses, regardless of the media.” Says Hayashi.
The duo’s activities began around 2006. The Setagaya Monozukuri Gakko (Setagaya School of Manufacturing), a revitalized junior high school building in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward, is a corner of the building. With a shrinking population and shrinking industry, what should our manufacturing industry look like? With such a sense of crisis, and at the same time, agonizingly asking themselves where their “mountain” was in an industry with a strong hierarchical structure, they continued their honest fieldwork.
Contemporary design is a counter to the times
The turning point was when “MOMENTum,” which was exhibited under the name KAPPES at the 2014 Milan Design Week, was selected as one of the 10 best works by the design media. It was here that he encountered the “mountain” of “contemporary design” mentioned by a French curator. After several years of meeting with various people and chewing on the idea, it became our own statement.
“The trend that began in the 1990s really took off in the 2010s, and there has always been a sort of backlash against the mainstream. Japan has a strong mainstream power compared to the rest of the world and has a strong sense of peer pressure ethnically. It wasn’t until I started going to Milan that I became aware of this, the root of my discomfort.”
One of the reasons they are a counter to the mainstream is that they did not have a design master. They developed their own style, which took some twists and turns, but it allowed them to solidify their axis and led to their unique work. Perhaps what makes their work so appealing is the fact that they have developed their main focus on research.
What they call ‘artistic research’ is neither an objective nor a method, but a whole, an accumulation of experiences as well as an artistic expression.
In “Nature Study: MIST,” a project on the theme of fog in 2022, they attempted to exhibit the process of their research. This exhibition was more than just a presentation of the results of his research, and he felt that the response was strong enough to reach not only the design industry, but also other fields. In this way, artistic research, which is derived from all the work up to the output, is said to naturally lead to the output through repeated experimentation and in-depth exploration of the materials and phenomena in front of one’s eyes.
Nature Study © Masayuki Hayashi
Nature Study © Masayuki Hayashi
“At a certain point, the materials themselves tell us what way to present them best, and we feel that this is the only way to present them.” Says Ando.
Their works, which consist of artistic research, are always characterized by a sense of organic immersion. In “Mikimoto Ginza Tree 2017,” a production with the pearl manufacturer Mikimoto as the client, the Christmas tree was completed as urea slowly crystallized, inspired by the slow crystallization of pearls in the shell. In “Blur,” he created a table that randomly emerged blue ink blotches as the temperature changed; “WONDER POWDER,” presented at Milan Design Week 2024, was a research and presentation of the beauty of powder in collaboration with Shimadzu Corporation. Metals, minerals, organic materials, and man-made objects were placed in a variety of original fixtures to create an artistic and different space.
“When you make something, you want people to feel empathy with it, because it is something you are trying to deliver. However, when we want people to be moved by the work, or to be moved by it, the most powerful thing we see is a natural phenomenon. They have been around us since we were born, and we have lived with them for a long time, so I think that there is almost no one who would deny an awe-inspiring moment in a natural phenomenon if we were to cut it out. When I think of empathy, I consider how to capture the fluctuations and uncertainties of nature.” Says Hayashi.
“I think that the distortion brought about by the unevenness of fluctuation and uncertainty is more beautiful. It is difficult to sympathize with a pure white wall, but I can look at concrete with expression for a long time” Says Ando.
Reform © Masayuki Hayashi
Urban Mining in a Consuming Society, A Viewpoint of Contemporary Japanese traditional art and crafts
Of course, for these artists, the axis of their expression is not limited to inspiration from nature. In recent years, their works that use waste as urban materials have been widely talked about. Notable examples are “Refoam,” made from used styrofoam collected in Tokyo, “Remains,” made from mixed industrial waste, which has a 53% recycling rate and is particularly difficult to decompose, and “Haze,” made from used copper wire collected in Tokyo. The works using urban waste are an attempt to reconstruct the relationship between materials and people using indigenous materials and to give them new value, as well as a counter to the fact that mining without regard to natural cycles and transportation for recycling are causing an environmental burden. While radiating pure beauty, these works also present solutions to social problems. At the same time, they confront the material waste as an urban mining for Tokyo design studios, just as Japanese traditional art is strongly connected to the local culture and customs.
Remains ©Masayuki Hayashi
We want to be a synonym for society
“I think what is required of designers by society is constantly changing. I am sure that the projects we are working on now are the result of the influence of half-consciously or half-unconsciously observing society on a daily basis, and the results are very honest. If we assume that our roles will change in accordance with the social situation, I don’t think we can even imagine what we will be doing 5, 10, or 20 years from now” Says Ando.
“I don’t think we can be a big gear that changes society, but I think we can be the first small gear that starts to turn. I am sure there are many things in the world that will never turn if this part does not turn.” Says Hayashi.
“I want to be a gear link in society in that sense, from the smallest gear to the largest gear. However, I believe that we are very ambitious and committed to creating the first opportunity and viewpoints. We would like to keep creating questions and perspectives that come to us and keep throwing them out there.” Says Ando.
interviewed in May, 2023
Design Studio
we+
Contemporary design studio established by Toshiya Hayashi and Hokuto Ando in 2013.
They direct and design a wide range of areas including products, installations, and graphics, pursuing an experimental approach that utilizes technology and special materials. They have received high acclaim both in Japan and abroad for their sensitive understanding of natural phenomena and the social environment, beautifully giving form to pre-defined sensations, values, and feelings of discomfort.
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