Ekuan, Kenji 1929–

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EKUAN, Kenji 1929–

PERSONAL:

Born September 11, 1929, in Tokyo, Japan; son of Tetsunen (a Buddhist priest) and Kazuko Ekuan. Ethnicity: "Japanese." Education: Attended College of Buddhism, Kyoto, Japan, and trained for the priesthood at Chioin Temple, 1947-49; National University of Fine Arts and Music, Tokyo, B.A., 1955; Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA, graduated, 1957. Religion: Buddhist.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Tokyo, Japan. Office—GK Design Group, San Ai Bldg., 3-30-14 Takada, Toshima-ku, Tokyo 171-0033, Japan; fax: 81-03-952-9057. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Buddhist monk. GK Industrial Design Associates, Tokyo, Japan, founder and president, 1957—, and chair. Kuwasawa Design School, director, 1987; Shizuoka University of Art and Culture, dean; Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA, trustee; Mexican Academy of Design, international member; University of Industrial Arts Helsinki, advisor. Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry, member of design advisory committee; Japan Design Foundation, board member; Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, member of organizing committee; member of advisory board for Hiroshima Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, Japan Ergonomics Association, and Japan Computer Graphics Association. Designs include projects for Yamaha Motor Co., Nippon Telegram and Telephone Corp., Kikkoman Corp., Fuji Bank, Singer Nikko Co., East Japan Railway Co., and Japan Small Vehicle Association. Appointed chair of several groups and events related to design. Exhibitions: Exhibitions include Kenji Ekuan and His World, Axis Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, 1982. Military service: Japanese Navy, cadet.

MEMBER:

International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (vice president of executive board, 1973-75; president, 1976-79; member of senate, 1979—), Japan Industrial Designers Association (board member, 1962—; president, 1970-72), Japan Exhibition Association (board member), Japan Livelihood Association (board member), Japan Association of Artist Craftsmen and Architects (board member), Japan Society for Future Research (board member), Industrial Designers Society of America.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Awards from Nippon Telegraph and Telephone competition, 1953, Mainichi industrial design competition, 1955, 1958, 1974, 1977, and Misawa prefabricated housing competition, 1969; awards from Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry, 1972, 1975, and 1977; honorary royal design award for industry, Royal Society of Arts, London, England, 1974; Colin King Grand Prix, International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, 1979; honorary fellow, Industrial Design Institute of Australia, 1981; honorary doctorate, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA, 1981; international design award, Japan Design Foundation, 1987; WORLDESIGN Award, International Designers Society of America, 1988; award for contributions to design promotion, 1992; Blue Ribbon Medal, 1992; JIDA Grand Prix, 1993; Sir Misha Black Medal, 1995; decorated officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France, 1997; honorary doctorates, London Institute, 1999, and University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland, 2001; Order of the Rising Sun, 2000; Lucky Strike Designers Award, 2003; International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Award, People's Republic of China, 2004; decorated commander, Order of the Lion of Finland, 2005.

WRITINGS:

Dogu Ko, Kajima Publishing, (Tokyo, Japan), 1969.

Industrial Design: The World of Dogu, Its Origins, Its Future, Nippon Hoso Shuppan Kyokai (Tokyo, Japan), 1971.

Design: The Relationship of Man and Technology, Nihon Keizai Shinbun (Tokyo, Japan), 1972.

Ekuan: Dunhill Industrial Design Lecture Series 1973, Trevor Wilson (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), 1973.

The History of Kitchen Utensils, Shibata Shoten (Tokyo, Japan), 1976.

Makunouchi Bento No Bigaku, Goma Shobo Publishing (Tokyo, Japan), 1980, translation published as The Aesthetics of the Japanese Lunchbox, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 1998.

The Philosophy of Tools, PHP Publishers (Tokyo, Japan), 1980.

The World of GK: The Concept and Development of Industrial Design, Kodansha (Tokyo, Japan), 1983.

Butsudan to Jidosha, Kosei Shuppan (Tokyo, Japan), 1986.

Material Things and Japanese, Tokyo Shoseki (Tokyo, Japan), 1994.

Soul and Material Things, Holp Shuppan Publishers (Tokyo, Japan), 1997.

The Discourses of Dougu, Kajima Publishing (Tokyo, Japan), 2000.

SIDELIGHTS:

From a sleek bicycle, a stoic phone booth, a soy sauce bottle, a systems kitchen, and more recently the New Bullet Train Akita Line "Komachi," the design of Kenji Ekuan has made its mark for nearly fifty years. The man considered to be the premier industrial designer in Japan has been called "Tokyo's Mr. Less-Is-More," and is considered a standard-bearer for industrial artists around the globe.

A native of Tokyo, Ekuan was born in 1929 and was trained in Buddhism, eventually becoming a Buddhist monk. At the same time, he showed early aptitude for design, studying at Tokyo's National University of Fine Arts and Music. Even before earning his bachelor's degree in 1955, Ekuan had already sold some designs for motorcycles to the Yamaha Motor Company. On the cutting edge of post-World War II technology, Ekuan correctly predicted the rise of "small cars, sophisticated cameras and mini-calculators [as] essentially a democratization of high culture," as he told a contributor to the reference work Contemporary Designers. "My primary concern as an industrial designer," he added, "is to simplify complex elements through design [and] to create things which are easily appreciated by the masses."

Beyond his artistry, Ekuan demonstrated his business acumen by founding GK Design Group (Group Koike), the largest industrial design firm in the world. Writing in Contemporary Designers, essayist Carl Auboeck remarked that "it would probably lead too far to note all the details of GK's success story—winning many competitions as well as many prizes sponsored by the municipal governments of Tokyo and other major Japanese cities. The group, and Ekuan with it, gained recognition as a leading design practice by working with large industries" and with leading architects of the day, all of which served to "[stimulate] Ekuan's already existing interest in urban and environmental matters."

Ekuan acknowledges the role of the designer as one who "brings the fruits of civilization to people. He must strive to humanize technology and familiarize it to laymen. By creating a congenial man-machine interface"—as Ekuan did with such designs as a world clock, a security alarm system and even a sewing machine—"he can offer cultivated or cultural beauty. Through the power of design the two worlds of man and material things can be made to function together in harmony." As an author, Ekuan has produced several books on design. One of these books, published in English as The Aesthetics of the Japanese Lunchbox, was cited by Library Journal contributor Lucia S. Chen for its "richness of content" and "exquisite layout." In this book Ekuan compares the lunchbox to Japanese culture to "explain the essence and intersection of design and life."

According to Auboeck, a combination of "dignified respect for symbolic meaning" and "a pronounced lack of satisfaction with achievements and success" have served to "make (and keep) Ekuan one of the most interesting figures in the world of design. He is living proof that spirituality, talent, and future-oriented activity in this particular field can very well rely on the cherished background of one's culture, tradition, and symbolic values in a post-industrial future that—on the face of it—seems far from safe or certain."

Recently Ekuan told CA: "The origin of my thoughts and writings can be traced back to the moment when I found myself in the city of Hiroshima right after it was destroyed by an atomic bomb some sixty years ago. I felt a sense of 'nothing:' the most horrendous destruction of civilization over a few seconds that human history ever witnessed. My mind was violently jolted and cut to ribbons. Through the acute environment of the postwar period, my feeling of 'have to do something' turned into a conviction of 'have to bring a smile to the ruin:' to create something from the nothing. Over the long period of my career, this conviction merged into my aesthetic criteria, and I have expressed it in the phrase 'less is more,' or 'small but powerful.'"