“PLEASE HELP JAPAN”. Tokujin Yoshioka

Tokujin Yoshioka, born in Saga, Japan in 1967. After he graduated Kuwasawa Design School in 1986, worked under Shiro Kuramata and Issey Miyake. He established his own studio, TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA INC. in 2000. His experimental and innovative creations, which transcend the boundaries of art, design, and architecture, are highly evaluated in the world. Including space design and installation for ISSEY MIYAKE, he designed SWAROVSKI's flagship store "SWAROVSKI GINZA". Also, he has collaborated with various leading companies such as Cartier, Hermès, LEXUS, TOYOTA, NTT, and other noted ones. 

Since the paper chair "Honey-pop"(2001) has attracted a great deal of public attention, Tokujin produced the chair made by baking fiber structure "PANE Chair - Baking A Bread Chair". Optical glass project started in 2002. Since then, "Water Block", "Chair Disappears in the Rain", the largest optical glass table "Waterfall" have received high acclaim in the world, and "Water Block" is permanently exhibited at Musee d'Orsay, Paris since 2011. He also designed product design such as YAMAGIWA’s lighting “ToFU”, cell phone "MEDIA SKIN" for au design project, and designed logo and packaging for re-branding of Japanese famous skin care bland FANCL. He was selected by the Japanese edition of Newsweek as one of the "100 most respected Japanese by the world", and some of his most important works are exhibited as a part of permanent collections in the world’s well-known museums such as Museum of Modern Art(MoMA) in New York, Centre National d’ Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Victoria and Albert Museum, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and Vitra Design Museum. 

He received prizes such as "Mainichi Design Award, 2001", "Cultural Affairs Section of Government of Japan, Encourage Prize, 2006", "Design Miami, Designer of the Year, 2007",  "Elle Deco International Design Awards (EDIDA)/ Designer of the Year 2009", "TOKYO Design & Art ENVIRONMENTAL AWARDS /  Artist of the Year 2010", "A&W Architektur & Wohnen/Designer of the Year 2011", and "Maison & Objet/ Creator of the Year 2012".