Tokyo-based multidisciplinary studio Takt Project was founded in 2013 by Satoshi Yoshiizumi, formerly a member of Nendo’s team. Describing itself as a ‘Design Think + Do Tank’, the studio works on projects for clients (including Toshiba, Yamaha, Fujitsu, Sony and more) in parallel with research projects exploring how design can offer inspiration and a positive impact on society.
‘Our intention is to create design as a new intellect that envisions a hypothesis that cannot be reached by logical thinking alone, but rather by taking a bird’s-eye view of the world, by lending an ear to our own voice, and by feeling and creating with our hands,’ reads their mission statement.
Design and the key issues of today
Satoshi Yoshiizumi
Among Takt Project’s work, Glow ⇄ Grow, presented at Milan’s Fuorisalone in 2019, has been the most impactful in setting the studio’s direction. A self-driven research project, its design is a process, rather than a finished product: resin continuously drips onto LEDs, slowly solidifying and changing its appearance as it descends, to create an organic form defined by gravity and chance.
Each object glows while growing in size, hence the project title. ‘In this project, we finally came to the interpretation that the act of making things is for people to resonate with nature. The theme I considered at that time continues to be a major guideline for me when I design in this age of the Anthropocene,‘ says Yoshiizumi.
‘Dye It Yourself’, a self-driven research project from 2015.
A combination of engineering, technology, industrial design and a special sensibility for the key issues of today is what makes Takt Project unique in the design industry today. ‘Their designs are not only sharp and advanced, but Satoshi Yoshiizumi’s understanding of and insights into materials and techniques is far deeper than that of designers in general,’ says Nendo’s Oki Sato, who identified the studio as one of 25 creative leaders of the future for Wallpaper’s 25th Anniversary Issue ‘5x5’ project.
Alongside its base in Tokyo, in 2020 the studio opened a lab in the rural Tohoku region – a place for the team to ‘think and create’. Its location is a key element of Yoshiizumi’s future thinking: ‘By having a base in Tokyo, one of the world's largest cities, and a place that has a different philosophy from the city, I want to reaffirm design and manufacturing from multiple perspectives.’
‘Equilibrium Flower’, 2021. The project features a vessel made entirely of knit fabric, created in collaboration with an artisanal factory in Japan that knits high-gauge knits. This shape was created by knitting ‘thermally bonded yarn‘, which shrinks when heated, and by developing a special fabric that hardens when heated
INFORMATION
A version of this article appears in the October 2021, 25th Anniversary Issue of Wallpaper* (W*270), on newsstands now and available to subscribers – 12 digital issues for $12,£12,€12.
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