Making daily objects interesting

Japanese designer Kenya Hara discusses the fleeting nature of trends, the role of AI and importance of 'emptiness' in design

- Pooja Singh

Everything around us is shaped in some version of al square or a circle. Whether it's the newspaper or the mobile phone screen on which you are reading this article, or the cup in which your morning coffee is cooling, fixed design language has become a big part of daily life.

It doesn't have to be.

Kenya Hara, one of the global leaders in contemporary design, believes the creation process requires fluidity, making the known unknown. A spoon, for instance, can also be a bowl. A chair can be large or long enough to fit a human and their furry friend. "You have to ask better questions, instead of looking for better solutions.

That should be the future of design," says Hara, known for his minimalist design aesthetic that maximises use of clean lines, white space and natural materials.

He is the art director of Muji, the famous non-brand brand that sells everything, from furniture and clothes to stationeryall products that focus on functionality rather than style.

In his decades-long career, the 65-yearold has written bestsellers on design such as White and Designing Design; founded a design think-tank; created the opening and closing ceremony programmes of the Nagano Winter Olympic Games (1998); and curated and participated in largescale design exhibitions, including "Re-Design: Daily Products Of The 21st Century" and "Architects' Macaroni", which featured several interpretations by architects of the humble macaroni.

Hara was recently in Mumbai for the launch of Muji's flagship store and café, the first such outlet in the world outside Japan, as part of its partnership with Reliance Brands Ltd, at the Jio World Plaza mall. In an interview, Hara, a professor at Japan's Musashino Art University, discusses the importance of emptiness in design, the fleeting nature of trends, and the role of artificial intelligence in human life. Edited excerpts: