[Title] beautiful barbs
[Artist] Naoto Fukasawa
[Date] March 18 – May 18, 2004
“Fantasy” is a word that holds various meanings. In Japanese, the general meaning of the term is “daydream, illusion,” but it also contains elements of surprise, eccentricity, caprice and originality. For designer Naoto Fukasawa, who directed the stage for “Colours and Fantasy” this time, “fantasy” has “an ominous, magical image.” This is why he chose to work with barbed wire. Our image of barbed wire is that of dungeon-like societies and boundaries based on morality, or the mental state of exclusivity… In sum, it is a heavy and sad image.
Fukasawa used nickel-plate processing to remove this sad image of the wire, and turned it into a warm and elegant material. This shining loop of light, adorned with vivid green and vermillion 2004 Spring/Summer prêt-a-porter products, gives an impression of flowers blooming in a vine of wire. While the large number of barbs seems to evoke a sense of pain, Fukasawa claims that he has iconized a sense of “edginess” that is indispensable to beauty and fashion.
One might be surprised to see this window, judging from Fukasawa’s previous design of mobile phones and electrical appliances. However, this element of “surprise” may also be contained in the meaning of “fantasy.” A fantasist that enjoys chance, Fukasawa expresses the fantasy of Hermès by fusing “a breath of air” into such functional material as barbed wire. Of course, this breath is not a magic that was born instantaneously. Just like the products of Hermès, which are realized only after much trial and error and a long time of training, Fukasawa’s fantasy is given life through resolute thought and a splash of coincidence.
Naoto Fukasawa
Product designer born in 1956 in Yamanashi prefecture. After graduating from Tama Art University, Fukasawa became a designer for Seiko Epson, then in 1989, entered IDE TWO, the predecessor of the present IDEO U.S.A. Returning to Japan in 1996, he founded IDEO Japan. In 2002, Fukasawa established his own studio, Naoto Fukasawa Design.