Interview with KOICHI FUTATSUMATA / CASE-REAL —part 2
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Details are necessary to create slight gradations in the focal points.
— Koichi Futatsumata / Case-Real
photography: Hiroshi Mizusaki
words: Reiji Yamakura/IDREIT translation: Richard Streeby
continue from part 1
— Using the example of Kaiboku, which you designed several years ago, tell me your thoughts on details. I really want to hear about the lacquer ware work stand.
That really turned out well and I wanted one for myself. (Laughs.) The plan was to create an Inari-sushi corner in the front part of a long-established Japanese restaurant. Therefore, we needed a work stand for making Inari-sushi, and the client wanted to use it when making sushi elsewhere too. So I designed it after observing the work of making sushi. It's made so that when it's used in the restaurant, if you remove the bottom tray and put it on the sink, the juice will flow down through the slits.
Japanese lacquer “Urushi” finish original box was designed for making Inari-sushi.
The lacquer finish box was made in Fukui prefecture in Japan.
Sushi chef use the box in the open kitchen counter. Also, the box was designed for the portable use.
The large picture window allows passerby to see the sushi making process.
— Where was it made?
I asked a craftsman in Fukui prefecture whom I had known for some time. He made it out of wood, so I was able to get it made in the precise shape I’d drawn. The client enjoys using it.
— It's your style to carefully craft details. Is there some reason for this?
I also design furniture, so I think it's in my character to care about every detail. Also, this is my personal feeling, but even if the concept and overall atmosphere are good, if the details are sloppy, I feel a space is not complete. It's important to me for my designs to be just right and for nothing to feel off. Of course, the concept is important, and it's essential for making the whole space. But I don't want to depend on a language-based explanation. I want something that you can feel immediately when you visit the space and touch the product, before you know the concept. The only way to achieve this is to make each detail just right.
— One more question. Some of your designs give me an impression of authentic Japanese style. Do you have "Japaneseness" in mind when you design?
To be honest, when I design, I don't have a criterion of Japanese or not Japanese. But I think details add up to a "world view" and "depth," and these are sensibilities or characteristics of Japanese people. I also pay close attention to materials and color combinations. At the hotel, for example, I was very careful about fine tuning the hue of the gray to match the green. I think the colors and items in intermediate positions play a role in connecting things well. I think the "correctness" of a space is determined by considering such details in the design.
I think if you make a large scale space with sloppy details, it will only give an impression of emptiness. In interior design, it's easy to pay attention to details, but in the architectural design of a new building, many things are decided by laws and site conditions. But a space created based on those factors alone is dreary. I think we really need to think about what people can touch and what they feel.
— You said the DDD HOTEL is not gaudy. Do you think about minimal design?
I don't think I'm a minimalist. If I wanted to be minimalist, I could reduce the number of elements more. But it's important not to overdo it.
I want to create something that is simple but has a good texture and that conveys subtle difference in tension. Because I want to express those differences properly, I have to pay attention to detail. The goal is not to create details, but the design of details is necessary to create slight gradations in the parts that are focal points. That's what the design of details means to me.
I heard the word "correct" a lot during the interview. The statements "carefully creating details brings about depth in a space!" and "I want to design in a way that is simple but communicates slight differences in texture" made an impression on me. The authenticity of a space created with such thinking charms both Japanese and foreign clients.
KOICHI FUTATSUMATA
Designer. Futatsumata is the representative director of “CASE-REAL” focusing on spacial design, and “KOICHI FUTATSUMATA STUDIO” which specializes in product design. He is based in Fukuoka and Tokyo working internationally with variety of works including architectures, interiors, furnitures and products. works: Restaurant on the sea, collaboration with Aesop, Kiulu Bench for Artek
