Acclaimed Japanese designer Oki Sato wants to be Doraemon

Fans of Japanese design will have a field day with Hidden — Unveiling Japanese Design, which opened at the National Design Centre on Saturday. It isn’t simply because it’s a wonderful showcase of the minimalist-cool aesthetics of Japanese products. Organised by Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in partnership with DesignSingapore Council, the exhibition is called Hidden — Unveiling Japanese Design precisely because it would reveal and demonstrate the ingenious thinking and philosophy underpinning how the Japanese approach the subject.

“About 60 per cent of my work is in Europe and while a lot of people there respect Japanese design, they think it’s about simplicity, minimalism and stripping away everything else. To me, that’s not it,” explained exhibition curator Oki Sato, who has been hailed as one of the most influential and brightest stars of the international design scene. “I think the soul of Japanese design is concentrating on the essence of the product and hiding the complexities away, like the Walkman. So for this exhibition, I wanted to tell the story and show what’s hidden away.”

The executive vice-president of JETRO, Miyako Hamano, said the organisation picked Sato as it feels the 36-year-old brings a very “modern, innovative and new approach of doing things”, adding that even the presentation of the exhibition is quintessentially Sato and unique — in how he displays the ideas that come before, inside and behind each of the 121 products. For example, mirrors are used to highlight the base of a bag that stands easily (it’s rubber sole just like sneakers, by the way), while mannequins demonstrate how a chair can transform into a protective helmet for use during earthquakes.

The Toronto-born designer who founded Nendo studio when he was only 24 admitted it was tough choosing the items to be exhibited. “I’m working on 300 projects at the same time and I think this is the toughest one,” he laughed. He cited that while there are many Japanese products with good designs, not everything fits the theme and strikes “that perfect balance between quality and being able to show a new perspective”.

Among Nendo’s 300 projects are designing for Danish furniture brand BoConcept, giving a spin on Tod’s iconic boat shoes, creating a window installation for Hermes and a lamp for Louis Vuitton. Sato enjoys juggling all these jobs. “Experience can limit a designer, so I need to reset my mind. To reset, you’ve to be stupid. When you’re too smart, you remember too many things and that’s not good,” he said. “Because I’ve 300 projects, I easily forget all about the other 299 when I’m working on one.”

The affable designer who loves pop culture and has done work for Nissin Cup Noodles, Starbucks and Disney (designer Winnie the Pooh glassware anyone?) names Japanese cartoon character Doraemon as a dream project to work on. “Doraemon’s the greatest designer, he’s my master — everything he creates and takes out of his pocket is so user-friendly. Yet they’re not perfect, which is nice because design can’t always be completely perfect. You don’t want to be friends with a perfect person, right?” With that, we think we found a designer we want to be BFFs with.

Hidden — Unveiling Japanese Design is at the National Design Centre till Oct 23. Admission is free. In conjunction with the exhibition is a Business Matching Event held on Oct 24 for interested parties to meet the designers behind the products. For more information, visit http://www.jetro.go.jp/singapore/events/hidden2014/