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DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

: It’s a coexistence of diversity and universality.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

: I tried to achieve to realize the ease of use and unobtrusive beauty.

DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?

: I will continue to design steadily like before.

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

: It took a couple of days.

DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?

: I met this zirconia material by commission, then I interpret and struggled so that Zirconia could gain a new position in this world.

DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?

: The design is my part. The production and the sales belong to ZIKICO INC.

DI: What made you design this particular type of work?

: I designed it to be the shape and expression that I want to use in my daily life.

DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?

: Nothing particular.

DI: Who is the target customer for his design?

: The most outstanding feature of zirconia, the "non-allergen," will bring the gospel to people with metal allergies. In addition, It does not elute metal ions, so It does not harm the taste of the dish, it must be appreciated by chefs and users who are pursuing the taste of the dish.

DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?

: At present, only ZIKICO INC can produce zirconia in delicate shapes like cutlery.

DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?

: SUMU was named by multiplying the sounds of Japanese words “purify itself” and “Live”. The aim of this product series is to live together for a long time with the tool that have the characteristic of Zirconia, which is the purity.

DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?

: I sketched with iPad and drew with 3D CAD.

DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?

: Even it is made of Zirconia, the price of this product is not in the luxury category but it’s in the middle standard.

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

: With the development member of ZIKICO INC.

DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?

: This product has been realized because the member of ZIKICO INC has spent ten years on Research and Development.

DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?

: We repeated the trial productions. We repeatedly tried whether it was comfortable for our members to use and commercialized.

DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?

: That was how to generalize Zirconia, since it is the unknown material generally. My answer was “Purity” as it was the summary of the three features of Zirconia describes this product. In addition, both the engineers and I had a hard time as we had to rework over and over again, even I proceeded the design process carefully by learning the features and limitations of the material since it was the first time to work with this material.

DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?

: It was a favor of CEO of ZIKICO INC.

DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?

: I appreciate the value of the relationships that I am able to work with my team in unknown areas.

DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?

: I am proud that this product is pioneering of Zirconia. As Coca-Cola is initially distributed as a medicine and is now being consumed worldwide, this product also initially start from a special market such as a non-allergen product, but after a few decades zirconia is going to be a common worldwide product.