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Interview with Kei Kato |
Home > Designer Interviews > Kei Kato |
Editor Frank Scott (FS) from DesignPRWire has interviewed designer Kei Kato (KK) for A’ Design Award and Competition. You can access the full profile of Kei Kato by clicking here.
FS: 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?
KK: I think it all started with "crying to the moon". When I was in high school, I used to doodle "I wish I had something like this" in my notebook during class. I remember that even back then, I was scribbling down things that were different from others, saying "I wish I had something like this. Perhaps seeing this, one of my teachers brought me a college guide near graduation and said, "Kei, I think this is the right college for you." What he showed me were pamphlets for art and design-related colleges. When I thought about why he recommended it, I was embarrassed to realize that, oh, all I had ever done was doodle. That was my entrance. Of course, that college was full of kids who had studied design and painting from an early age, so I still remember the first drawing class I attended, only my drawing was as pale in color as if it were a blank sheet of paper. Still, I tried to figure out how to make it better, with my own "cry to the moon. As I learned more about what it meant to design, I began to want to use the knowledge I gained to create something that I could not yet see and had never seen.
FS: Can you tell us more about your company / design studio?
KK: I have a rented apartment that I have renovated and am using as a workshop and residence. I can also do woodworking. It is an environment where I can give shape to my ideas at any time.
FS: What is "design" for you?
KK: The act of designing is the act of posing a problem and solving it. It is also the power to materialize a future that was previously unimaginable.
FS: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
KK: The whole living space. The vase, the chairs, the lighting, the thickness of the walls, the experience. I like to listen carefully to the thoughts and concepts and finish them as a form.
FS: What is your most favorite design, could you please tell more about it?
KK: Once, in an antique store, I saw a wooden chair carved by an unknown artist. The height of the handrail, the slightly recessed shape of the seat and back, the appearance of being carved from a single piece of wood, everything seemed to have been made for me. I think it was because it was all black that I was able to concentrate on sitting in the chair rather than looking at the details of its construction.
FS: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
KK: Logo for a publishing company We created a logo that would reflect the concept of the company and at the same time capture the imagination of the viewer since the company deals with novels and other stories.
FS: What is your favorite material / platform / technology?
KK: hard maple
FS: When do you feel the most creative?
KK: It is the same when we complete a project, Especially when faced with a failure or a new problem, and after solving it or trial and error, a new idea or scene that was not visible before comes into view.
FS: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
KK: Creating a space, including products and graphics, is a work that affects the hearts and minds of the people who come there, and it is only by discovering and creating problems and new values through research that one-of-a-kind originality is born. In my case, it is necessary to spend time on these tasks and carefully incorporate them into the design in an analog manner.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
KK: I feel free. I like to design both publicly and privately, so when I have extra time I write down ideas in my head, but even just thinking about it, I keep coming up with different ideas than before because I keep running into forms and problems that I am not satisfied with when I write them down. I feel the joy of being able to do that. I often jot down ideas on the train or something.
FS: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
KK: I'd like to see other ideas take shape.
FS: What makes a design successful?
KK: Compassion To spend time thoroughly researching and communicating with the client to understand all aspects of the client, to discover and create problems and new value, to think about how to first make the client happy and then how to lead to results that will make the client happy, and then to carefully incorporate these ideas into the design.
FS: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
KK: We look to see if there are ideas that have never been worthwhile before.
FS: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
KK: To use the power of design to find solutions to problems that have occurred or are occurring, starting with the most significant problem. For example, when reusing used or broken glass, the objective viewpoint and the viewpoint and thinking of those who think about the site and the environment are not always the same. There are various methods for reusing glass, and most of them are not wrong. However, when looking at glass from the perspective of reuse as a whole, the biggest problem is the large amount of carbon dioxide produced by thermal melting. Designers should make an effort to properly understand this problem and come up with ideas and assumptions to solve it, which is my goal.
FS: How do you think the "design field" is evolving? What is the future of design?
KK: I believe that the evaluation of design in the business world is still very severe. I think this is because the value of design has not been properly promoted. The value of solving problems. Designers need to be sensitive not only to the process of making things, but also to the problems of the people involved in making them, and use the power of design to show that even their problems can be solved, and link this to the deliverables. It is necessary to first make the workers aware that design is indispensable as the best means to solve their problems. On the other hand, in recent years, we are often faced with unexpected problems such as covid19 and earthquakes. As these days are becoming unstable in all aspects, we believe that our mission is to make proposals to help everyone acquire the ability to design as their own power in order to live in the coming age
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A’ Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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