ART EXHIBITIONS - TOKYO

Press Release

COLOR-HUNTING

21 June - 6 October 2013

Photo courtesy of 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT

TOKYO - From June 21st, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT holds Exhibition �COLOR-HUNTING� directed by Dai Fujiwara.

Sea, sky, trees, stars�the colors in the natural world are infinite. However, many of the colors that touch our lives, whether they are objects like architecture, tools, and clothing, or our virtual world inside our displays, are man-made colors predetermined by a color chart. This makes us wonder; we are surrounded by millions of colors but do we live in a truly �colorful� environment?

Exhibition director Dai Fujiwara invented �color-hunting,� a design method of simple curiosity and powerful action. The act of capturing actual colors in the natural and urban environment and reproducing them on a piece of paper by mixing watercolors on the spot is literally color-hunting. Design rooted in this color-hunting embraces the power to convey and spread meanings and stories of color to the people involved in the product making process as well as its users.

�Second Skin Glasses" JIN CO., LTD. Using color-hunted skin colors, create eyeglass

frames that blend with the face.

For this exhibition, Fujiwara went color-hunting among wild lions and the Toki (Japanese Crested Ibis) of Sado Island to not only exhibit the diversity of colors in this world but also to get visitors acquainted with the unique meaning contained in every color. The exhibition will also introduce researchers and their challenge to recreate phantom colors described in old documents dating back 1200 years, projects taken on with companies to extract colors from vegetables, as well as initiatives with domestic and international educational institutions to replace subject images and information with color.

Design that starts from color is a journey into creativity and ideas with greater freedom and excitement. Come discover the rich world of colors created by �color-hunting� and the infinite possibilities of color-originated design.

Photos courtesy of 21-21 DESIGN SIGHT

Director�s Message

"Color is like a living creature. As is sound and scent, color is fluid and can be interpreted from different perspectives including sense, science, and culture. Color also exists in things, space, and information to gently communicate the many messages they have to deliver. If our words could be replaced by color, our world could unfold like a universe of light and meaning. 

Today, the things that we call �design� has transcended from a tool for the mass to a life skill shared by children and adults alike; a thing of great social influence and an indispensable cornerstone that enriches our lives. In that belief, I have experimented extensively to come up with concepts and actions that could become a threshold to universal design. I�d like to make a difference in future design by starting the process from color. 

To take color, collect color, photograph color, record color, and capture color�

I call this �color-hunting.� We are developing various projects with different exhibitors as we think and struggle together on the topic of color. Through this exhibition, I�d like to think and discover design with our visitors in hopes that this will turn into �one� opportunity in the making of a creative society."

�Yamanaka Yu

About Dai Fujiwara

1992, studied at The Central Academy of Fine Arts, School of Chinese Painting, Landscape Drawing (Beijing), and joined MIYAKE DESIGN STUDIO after graduating from Tama Art University, Faculty of Art and Design, Department of Design in 1994. 1998, Fujiwara started the �A-POC� project together with Issey Miyake. Won the Good Design Grand Award 2000 and the Mainichi Design Award 2003 for �A-POC.� 2006, appointed as Creative Director of ISSEY MIYAKE (until 2011). 2008, founded DAIFUJIWARA AND COMPANY. Visiting professor of Kyoto University of Art and Design and Tama Art University since 2013. At home and abroad, Fujiwara actively pursues creations. Fujiwara connects science with making things through design based on color and material. He has also set out on many creative endeavors that capture unique information of a community by analyzing its color. Fujiwara collects colors of the sky, sea, nature, and animals from all over the world as he continues to introduce new works.

Source: 21_21 DEIGN SIGHT

�Edible Color� TOKIWA PHYTOCHEMICAL CO., LTD.  A project to create �Edible Color�

through color-hunting of vegetables.

�Name the Tree� - A project conducted with students from Sydney, Taipei,  Tokyo, New York,

Helsinki, and Hong Kong. Pick a tree in their community, give it a name and color, and create

contents that make that tree unique.

21_21 DESIGN SIGHT

(Tokyo Midtown Garden)

9-7-6 Akasaka Minato-ku, Tokyo

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