SALONE NEWS 2007 in Milan vol.1
A Scene of Life by NEXTMARUNI

The time of Milan Salone comes around. Hotels and streets there have begun to have its special air of tension and excitement.. People from around the world get together here in Milan and those who work here let me hear a variety of opinions and rumors.
Some say, “It seems some college students from London are showing their works at Satellite.” , Others say, “ It looks like Salone is only for Italy and Japan.” In anyway, the enthusiasm of Japanese on Milan Salone seems to have reached its peak.. An Italian designer whose studio I visited, pointing his forefinger to the pile of invitations, dared say, “ Those are trash.” I said, “ Mine is in them.” Then, he said, “Oh, mine, too.” This could be a laughing matter. The excitement over Milan Salone has reached such a height to be for every Tom, Dick and Harry. Even those who say, “Salone is a history.” are showing their works there. A person saying “ There are just too many things for anyone to see all.” expresses his willingness to introduce the products of his company next year.

The visibility of Japan is extremely high, here. It’s like the whole of Tokyo Designers’ Week has been moved to Milan in the same way as 100% Design of London is reproduced in Tokyo. I’m a kind of sure that I’ll see lots of young Japanese future designers at Satellite. I’m planning to find the young designers here at Satellite, who I should nominate for ‘Designers’ Catalogue’, a design exhibition to find new talents held in Tokyo. The young designers with full determination to be first grade ones surely come all the way to Milan.

Milan Salone starts today. And this is a report on the eve of its opening.

We struggled with the preparation of the exhibition of Next Maruni works. The old show-space doesn’t have good equipment. For instance, the electrical outlet is found at an unimaginably inconvenient place, which makes it impossible to properly illuminate exhibited works. It was during such a struggle that Harri Koskinen came along. The works we, both of Harri and me, are going to present are newly finished ones that were completed just in time for this exhibition. So both of us need to check our own works here at the very exhibition space. The condition was agreeable on the whole for both Harri and me. They say, however, Alberto Meda who’d visited this place requested for one of the two works of his to be got rid of from the exhibition space. It was a work whose size was a little big. He seemed to think its black frames and black leather seat would look weird in this particular show-space. He was afraid that this work might disturb the harmony with other works there. In this request, Meda’s human nature is well represented. He asked one of his works to be put away not because of his dissatisfaction with his own work but because of his concern for the works of other designers.

Report 1/ Next Maruni
The theme of the Next Maruni Project this year is ‘LIFE STYLE NEXTMARUNI’. Starting with small wooden chairs, Next Maruni has been working on chair-designs, which has, now, come to reach the designs of arm-chairs. The theme of this year is directed to more comprehensive one, that is, the expression of the ‘Life Scenes’ according to the life-style proposed by Next Maruni that includes lounge-chairs, small tables, dining tables and their settings in total ways. Here I’d like to introduce some of the works presented.

a1/ This is a lounge chair of my own(Masayuki Kurokawa) designing. I’m in charge of producing the theme assignment and the theme concept to be given to designers, I naturally feel obliged to be consistent with the theme, that is, ‘Lounge chairs have to be comfortable ones that let those who sit on them should fall asleep. There seem to be only two works among all presented for this year’s Next Maruni International Competition that keep this principle. One of them is mine. And the other is Alberto Meda ‘s who kindly assumed the job for judging works.
The black one in front in this picture is my work. On the left, you can see a part of the natural material I used for it.

The lounge-chair on the other side of the same table is the work by Naoto Fukazawa. He was too busy to design a small table. His lounge-chair may not make you feel sleepy but it’s tenderly comfortable to sit on. It’s the work that lets you feel Mr. Fukazawa as a great designer.

Let me mention, by the way, that Harri greatly praised my lounge-chair. The feeling of great pleasure of being praised can be always the same with no regard to person’s age.

a2/ This is the set of works of Harri Koskinen. The white one in front and the chair and the table in the middle. Though he was giving some request for small changes he, on the whole, seems to be satisfied with this arrangement. I felt impressed to see the project that started with the designs of small wooden chairs has come all the way to this far. The keyboard seen on the back is Clavinova, an electrical keyboard of YAMAHA made with the cooperation of which the theme, ‘ The Life Style proposed by Next Maruni’ would be realized as an image of salon. Music played with automatic music playing system called MODUS gives an additional good mood to the air of the exhibition space. I’ll be delighted if someone plays it at the party to be held on the 20th.

a3/ The image of a dining scene of Harri( in front) and Fukazawa( on the back). The set of works in front, including tableware on the table, is Harri’s. The generous impression given by the plates make me feel good. The plate is going to be introduced by DANESE in the near future. The tableware on Fukazawa’s work, though it may be not big enough to see clearly in this photo seems to be his own designing, I’m sorry not to have confirmed that at present. I’ll let you know when I’ve made sure of that. They also look like Mujirushi’s products.

a4/ A dining table by Masayuki Kurokawa. This is my first design of a ８００×１２００ size table. The small chairs are the new ones completed through the design change of the seat to the one introduced in 2005. Thanks to this change, the feeling of sitting on it has come to be greatly improved. The black rectangular mats on which plates are set as well as the tableware except for the plates were designed by myself, Kurokawa. The tablemat is the one I introduced some time ago and the grinder of GOM is the work of mine some 25 years ago. Chinaware is, however, brand-new, produced by a new company called K Co. This chinaware will begin to be on the market this fall.
（www.k-shop.net）
a5/ This is an image of a dining scene by Kanji Ueki. The table is his new work. The designs of the tableware are also by his own hands. The sense of ordinary feeling particular to Kanji Ueki is making a good impression.

Let me write at the next occasion about Alberto Meda’s conceptual criteria to decide the winner of the competition. I’d like to report on it after taking pictures of the things today, the first day of this years’ Milan Salone.
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Looking back at the activities of Next Maruni Project and their outcomes up to present as a producer being in charge of the project, I find there are several important lessons. First of all, I believe its branding was greatly successful. The requests for media coverage during its initial year were from beyond 120 magazines all over the world, which made Maruni’s name known to everyone in the field of furniture industry. I’m sure it won in its market strategies. The actual product sales are not going so well, though. The initial target to make 70% of the products sales in overseas countries doesn’t seem to be attained. I may have to admit that I made a miscalculation by believing that the time has already come in which people prefer to make their own interior arrangement according to their own tastes and ideas. Now I’ve learned the time hasn’t come to be so matured as that yet. People at present time still seem to prefer that someone or some company gives them sets of coordinated or ready-made spaces. It seems that the time hasn’t come yet in which people want to create ‘their own interior spaces’. The reason why Next Maruni Project should propose ‘Life Styles’ for this year can be found here. People seem not to be ready for wearing the coordination of Issey Miyake’s shirt, Shoji Yamamoto’s pants and remodeled their grand pa’s vest in harmonious ways.
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The original goal of Next Maruni Project is to introduce the ‘ ideas and senses of beauty created by the harmony among a great variety of special characteristics, which is represented in the harmonious whole made up of chairs designed by designers of a great variety of characters. The shop starting as ‘a chair shop’ is now seeking to be ‘a space shop’ while keeping the goal of becoming a great chair shop. I am not willing to loose the strong quest for designs both characteristic and individualistic. So let’s wait until the time comes when people begin to seek them as something valuable.

There are other exhibits here that modestly express themselves. They are the sets of tableware in my own image of dining scene.
They are, as a matter of fact, the first merchandize of a company called ‘K’ I started. This company was created with its goal of examining ‘ the ways to make things in the future to come’. ‘K’ is a maker as well as a producer. ‘K’ takes charge of only ‘soft-ware’, that is, ‘ideas’ and the designs are taken charge of by K- Studio(Kurokawa Design Studio). The actual production of goods(hardware) is made by its affiliated makers with production facilities and technologies. It is made up of companies being connected by alliance relationships. It may sound similar to a software company that entrusts other makers with the production of goods by OEM or a company that doesn’t have any production factory. The fundamental difference between this new company ‘K’ and such companies as mentioned above is that it is not following the usual principle of competition in which software companies can freely change their production OEM makers depending on such matters as cost, technology, popularity and so on. ‘K’ asks its OEM makers to send their management personnel to ‘K’, from whom ‘K’ tries to absorb the cultures and the principles of the producers that manufacture goods. Please take a look at the web-site, ‘About K’ below. This is an on-line shop that hasn’t started the sales of products yet. ‘K’ is expecting many shops to be interested in carrying its products. K’s commercial targets are markets in overseas countries and it’s planning to assign excellent designers to design its products.

Please visit www.k-shop.net
This site is going to be integrated into D-SHOP of designtope.net before long.
There may be a few more years before assigning well-known designers to design its products.