Lecture6：An interpretation of ‘the act of dressing’ from the perspective of context design

Lecture 6 was held, and we would like to introduce a part of the lecture and what the semifinalists learned/new perspectives they noticed.

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　　Lecturer / Theme

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Lecturer: Mr. Kotaro Watanabe (Context Designer at Takram/ Visiting Professor at Tohoku University of Art and Design)

Theme: An interpretation of ‘the act of dressing’ from the perspective of context design

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　　Profile

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As a context designer, Kotaro aims to turn users into creators, and consumers into artists, through involving people in design. His activites range from vision setting for organizations, service design to art projects. Past works include FLORIOGRAPHY, a collaborative gift-giving project of flower and letter-writing with ISSEY MIYAKE, branding of Morioka Shoten, a bookstore that sells a single book at a time, and NIKKEI, the owner of the Financial Times, among others. Graduated from Keio University SFC, Kotaro is also an author of several books, and a radio personality, expanding the boundaries between design, culture and art. He practices Japanese tea ceremony, and is professor of Santokuan, Japan Association of the Tea Ceremony. Kotaro holds worldwide lectures and workshops, whilst running projects internationally. He served as juror of German iF Design Awards, guest professor at Keio University SFC between 2019 and 2024, and at Tohoku University of Art and Design from 2024 onward.

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　　Lecture Outline

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Contextual design is not about getting the context right, but about weaving together (con-) the strong context by the creator and the weak context by the user (texere). We look not only at the strong ones, such as legitimacy, usefulness, and current common sense, but also at the weak ones, which may or may not be useful, personal interpretations, detours, and usefulness, and we try and throw them out there. How it will work and spill over into society is unpredictable. Why is the Mona Lisa famous? Why do hit songs become hits? The diverse examples of this talk gave us a sense of the potential for small efforts to bring about change in society. The lecture encouraged us to try to do what we can believe in, even if it seems small and weak, because you never know what it will lead to in the long run.

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　　Key Points Learned

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Some of the key points that were learned by the semi-finalists who attended the course and last year’s winners are listed below.

The lecturer’s words, ‘Today’s common sense will become tomorrow’s heresy,’ left an impression on many participants. One participant felt that from this point, ‘There is no answer to what is right and wrong, what is good and what is bad.’ On the other hand, she thought that one could find the answer within oneself, and that ‘the designer is the one who believes in the answer, the idea, and herself, and transmits it.’ From there, one felt that until now, ‘I have sometimes lost sight of what I really wanted to do because I have been thinking too much in search of the right answer from the masses,’ but by pursuing what one wants to create with ‘the original joy and excitement of making things,’ one hopes that ‘someday my message will reach someone.’

There was one more comment from the lecturer that people said was impressive. It came during the Q&A session, when one said, ‘Sometimes it is better to have a lot of knowledge and combine them in a unique way than to be the best at one thing.’ One said that this idea had such a big impact on one’s that one felt a sense of liberation, as one tends to seek perfection in everything, and that it made one reevaluate one’s values.

Some participants wanted to further examine the lecture’s focus on the weak, thinking that it might be connected to Yanagi Muneyoshi’s description of the culture that emerges from the cold and harsh environment of the Tohoku region as “oppressed beauty”.

Some participants also talked about the viewpoint that smart something does not make people smart, and that primitive costumes such as Sally do not have a convenient form, and that this is why people can be smarter and use them more freely. The participants felt as if one was able to ‘put into words exactly what one had been vaguely thinking about,’ and they believe that they will be able to apply the concepts to their own work in the future.

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We will continue to provide an overview of each lecture and what the semifinalists learned from it.

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