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Japanese Designer Makoto Koizumi - "The Beauty in Use" Form Follows Function
- Yan Chan
- 2021年8月12日
- 讀畢需時 2 分鐘
Photo : Toshihide Kajihara.
Japanese designer Makoto Koizumi was born in 1960. He studied furniture design at a woodworking school in the early stage of his design career, and then moved to an interior design company after graduation. In light of this background, his later design works are impressively diverse. He works across different design categories, from furniture and utensils to architecture and interior design. In 1990, Makoto Koizumi established his design studio "Koizumi Studio". Later in 2000, he started touching on architectural design, and then in 2003, he established a store "Koizumi Douguten".
Perhaps because of his love towards wood craftsmanship, Makoto Koizumi often uses wood in his works. Apart from the wooden elements, smooth lines & curves, simplicity & practicality, and absence of unnecessary decorations, are all the classic design features of Makoto Koizumi.
"When I make a product, the first thing I consider is practicality. If it is practical, the next step is to consider whether it can be produced. No matter how good the idea is, if it cannot be done, it is still a useless one. I only come to think about style at the last stage," Makoto Koizumi once said in an interview.
Makoto Koizumi often think from the perspective of users when he is making a design. Elements beyond basic needs would be taken away, and there has to be certain meaning or use for decorations that remain. This idea of putting practicality and function first, and then followed by from is exactly one of the design theories of modernist aesthetics - "Form Follows Function".
This classic design principle that seems complicated is indeed nothing unfamiliar. MUJI, a brand famous for its minimalist style, is in fact one of the representatives of sticking to this theory. They use high-quality materials to make simple daily necessities, putting the product functions at priority. Their simple yet elegant designs eventually capture the hearts of many people who enjoy the beauty of simplicity.
This design concept of Makoto Koizumi also echoes the spirit of "The Beauty in Use" of another Japanese design master Yanagi Muneyoshi whom Makoto Koizumi admires. v believes that "beauty" should be found in folk crafts. Useless products cannot be considered a beautiful one.
Both the above two concepts coincide with the "minimalism" advocated by many in recent years in fact.
Charmy has collected some of Makoto Koizumi's design goods from Japan. For those who also love minimalist design: don't hesitate and check them out!