We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer So Koizumi about their original and creative Wind Chime design work. So Koizumi is an award-winning industrial designer, that makes our world a better place with their original wind chime works.
So Koizumi ("SK") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Seven Wind Chime. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
SK : In the unstable social situation of recent years, people and society are constantly moving back and forth between stability and anxiety, living in a state of drifting between joy and sorrow, and the theme was "between stability and anxiety". The tensegrity structure is a structure that wanders between stability and instability, just as it embodies today's society, and we believe that there is something in between that moves people's emotions.
SK : One is that it is a wind chime with a new structure, so I had to sublimate it into a form that was unique to me. The other is that this wind chime stands on its own with a very delicate balance, so every component required precise technical skills.
SK : I would like to exhibit first in Tokyo and then abroad.
SK : The concept is something that has come naturally to me over the last couple of years of my life.
SK : This was not commissioned, but part of an independent production.
SK : The production was carried out in Takaoka, Toyama, Japan, a city famous for its metalworking. It could not have been completed without their technical expertise.
SK : The concept was born out of daily life and the idea of a wind chime with a tensegrity structure was conceived to realise it.
SK : There are works in the world that use tensegrity structures, but this is about incorporating the features of tensegrity structures into the function of a wind chime and sublimating them into a form like a work of art.
SK : The first is that it makes use of a tensegrity structure, which, when viewed from the side, is shaped like a combination of "7". The second is named after the division of labour in Takaoka, with a total of seven factories and their craftsmen producing the product.
SK : 3D software and craftsmanship.
SK : It is the incorporation of the features of the tensegrity structure into the function of a wind chime and its sublimation into a form like a work of art.
SK : It was produced by craftsmen in Takaoka City, Toyama Prefecture, Japan, which is famous for metalworking.
SK : In the case of this work, the research is in the discoveries of everyday life.
SK : Because the structure of the wind chime was unprecedented, design and experimentation were repeated. There were some problems in the actual production, but it was the technical skills of the craftsmen in Takaoka that led us to a solution.
SK : I was interested to see how people in Japan and around the world would rate it.
SK : It is about persevering to the end and not giving up, paying attention to subtleties and communicating with the craftspeople.
