Design Anthology Awards 2021
Announcement of the finalists | 25th Oct. 2021
Kosuke has been selected for one of three finalists of Emerging Talents category of Design Anthology Awards 2021.
KOSUKE ARAKI
Designer / Maker
Originally born in Geneva, Switzerland in 1988, Kosuke Araki is a Japanese designer working and living in Tokyo.
Kosuke creates works in search of values or sensitivities that have been slighted in the process of rapid modernisation. He believes that there must be something vital which cannot be attained by simply pursuing efficiency and rationality. With appreciation of nature, he carefully listens to the voice of things and ponders ways to retrieve humanity in our life.
His works have been appreciated and exhibited internationally including Kunstgewerbemuseum, the MAK Wien, La Triennale di Milano, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Christie's London, Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). His Anima collection has been acquired for the collection of V&A, MoMA. and CID Grand Hornu.
In the summer of 2013, Kosuke completed MA degree with the highest evaluation at Royal College of Art, where he studied in Design Products department under Tord Boontje, Rosario Hurtado (El Último Grito), Gabriel Krasmer, Sarah van Gameren (Glithero) and Philippe Malouin.
His graduation work, Food Waste Ware, was selected as one of 40 works for an exhibition, 21st century Design and Art – RCA 2013 Selected works and projects from Royal College of Art Show 2013, curated by Christie's in London. It was also featured on Evening Standard, a free daily newspaper published in London.
Kosuke won the Grand Prix of Lexus Design Award 2016 with Agar Plasticity which was developed in collaboration with two of his designer friends. Afterwards, he designed several different limited packages and ornaments specially for Lexus. A year later, the project was honoured with the National Winner (Japan) of Energy Globe Award 2017.
In 2018, Kosuke was shortlisted for the Emerging Designer of the Year category of Dezeen Awards as one of six finalists. For the 2019 edition of the awards, Anima was shortlisted for the Sustainable Design category of Dezeen Awards as one of six finalists. For the 2020 edition, Desktop Forest and Canopy were longlisted for the Workplace Design category.
In 2021, selected for International KOGEI(craft) Award in Toyama, his work is also recognised as a craft with alternative perspective. He has been chosen as the winner of the Emerging Talents category of Design Anthology Awards.
© KOSUKE ARAKI
Education
2011 - 13 MA, Design Products, Royal College of Art | London, UK
2006 - 10 BA, Product Design Department, Tama Art University | Tokyo, Japan
Awards
2022 Recipient, Tokyo Business Design Award, Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP) | Tokyo, Japan
2021 Winner, Emerging Talents, Design Anthology Awards, Fifth Black | Australia and Hong Kong
2021 Selected, International Kogei Award in Toyama 2020, Toyama prefecture | Japan
2020 Longlist, Workplace Design, Dezeen Awards, Dezeen Ltd. | UK
2019 Shortlist, Sustainable Design, Dezeen Awards, Dezeen Ltd. | UK
2019 Longlist, Workplace Design, Dezeen Awards, Dezeen Ltd. | UK
2018 Shortlist, Emerging Designer of the Year, Dezeen Awards, Dezeen Ltd. | UK
2018 Longlist, Homeware Design, Dezeen Awards, Dezeen Ltd. | UK
2017 National Winner (Japan), Energy Globe Award 2017, ENERGY GLOBE Foundation GmbH | Austria
2016 Grand Prix Winner, Lexus Design Award 2016, Lexus | Japan
2013 Nomination, "Brilliant" Eddie Mundy Award, Royal College of Art | London, UK
2012 Winner, BlackBerry Student Project Award "Design for our Future Selves", Helen Hamlyn Center for Design | London, UK
Public Collection
2022 Anima, CID Grand Hornu | Hornu, Belgium
2019 Anima, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) | New York, US
2019 Anima, Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) | London, UK
Exhibitions
2024.03 - 06 ORIGIN of SIMPLICITY - 20 Visions of Japanese Design, ADI Design Museum | Milan, Italy
2023.09 - 07 Life Cycles: The Materials of Contemporary Design, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) | New York, US
2023.05 - 10 FOOD, Design Museum Holon | Holon, Israel
2023.01 - 03 Meet The Future, China Science and Technology Museum | Beijing, China
2023.02 Circular Materials for Future Dining, Ambiente | Frankfurt, Germany
2022.09 - 10 The Planetarian, 751 D Park | Beijing, China
2022.09 - 01 At the Coalface!, CID au Grand-Hornu | Hornu, Belgium
2022.05 - 09 IT'S OUR F***ING BACKYARD, Stedelijk Museum | Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2022.04 - 05 The Thinking Piece, The Thinking Piece | Tokyo, Japan
2021.10 - 05 Beyond TUMS, Transnatural | Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2021.07 - 09 Refrigerator Illusion, Asia Culture Center | Gwangju, South Korea
2021.05 - 09 The Unknown Mine Zone, Transnatural | Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2021.04 - 05 The Unknown Mine Zone, Nieuw Dakota | Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2021.04 - 05 International Kogei Award in Toyama 2020, Takaoka Art Museum | Toyama, Japan
2021.02 - 04 International Kogei Award in Toyama 2020, Toyama Prefectural Museum of Art and Design | Toyama, Japan
2021.02 - 05 Materia Gris (Grey Matter), Centrocentro | Madrid, Spain
2021.11 - 08 Broken Nature, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) | New York, US
2020.09 Lexus Design Award Winning Works, Lexus, Intersect by Lexus | Tokyo, Japan
2020.05 - FUTURE FOOD - What will we eat tomorrow?, Deutsches Hygiene-Museum | Dresden, Germany
2020.02 - 05 Design Transfigured/Waste Reimagned, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art | Arizona, US
2019.11 Materials Innovation 2019, Subcontractor InnoDex, ELMIA Subcontractor | Jönköping, Sweden
2019.10 Designart Tokyo 2019, Designart, Tenoha Daikanyama | Tokyo, Japan
2019.10 - 12 Design Transfigured/Waste Reimagned, Georgetown University Art Galleries | Washington D.C., US
2019.05 - Design Lab, Vienna Biennale For Change 2019, The MAK | Vienna, Austria
2019.05 Disruptive Materials, Interzum, KoelnMesse | Cologne, Germany
2019.05 - 10 FOOD: Bigger than the Plate, Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) | London, UK
2019.05 Life and Life after Death, Zagreb Design Week and Art Zagreb, Tehnički muzej Nikola Tesla | Zagreb, Croatia
2019.04 Sumitomo Forestry - Reevaluating Wood, Milan Design Week, Superstudio Più | Milan, Italy
2019.03 - 09 Broken Nature, The XXII Triennale, La Triennale di Milano | Milan, Italy
2019.02 - 03 Super-Packaging, Madrid Design Festival, Femán Gómez Villa Cultural Centre | Madrid, Spain
2019.01 - 04 Future Cross Boundaries, Taiwan Design Museum | Taipei, Taiwan
2018.12 - 04 Food Revolution 5.0, Gewerbemuseum Winterthur | WInterthur, Switzerland
2018.10 - 12 MATERIAL DESIGN EXHIBITION 2018, Material Connexion Tokyo, AXIS Gallery | Tokyo, Japan
2018.05 - 09 Food Revolution 5.0, Kunstgewerbemuseum | Berlin, Germany
2018.03 - 01 Common Good, MAAS | Sydney, Australia
2017.10 "Future Luxury", Leisure Center | Vancouver, Canada
2017.10 Experimental Creations Tokyo 2017, Designart, TIERS | Tokyo, Japan
2017.04 Experimental Creations Milan 2017, Milan Design Week, Ventura Lambrate | Milan, Italy
2017.02 - 04 SuperMaterial, The Building Centre | London, UK
2016.11 EXTRA - Product Design Exhibition 2016, Tama Art University, Daikanyama T-site | Tokyo, Japan
2016.10 Beyond by Lexus, Lexus, Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi | Tokyo, Japan
2016.09 FachPack 2016 – Forum for Design Knowledge, NürnbergMesse | Nürnberg, Germany
2016.08 Lexus Design Award 2016 Prototypes Exhibition, INTERSECT BY LEXUS - TOKYO | Tokyo, Japan
2016.07 Retrieved, Gdynia Design Days, PPNT Gdynia | Gdynia, Poland
2016.06 Sense The Anticipation, Lexus, Royal Savoy Hotel | Lausanne, Switzerland
2016.04 Lexus Design Award 2016, Milan Design Week, Tortona District | Milan, Italy
2015.09 The Voice of Things, London Design Festival, Brompton Design District | London, UK
2013.07 21st century Design and Art – RCA 2013, Christie's London on King Street | London, UK
2013.06 Show RCA 2013, Royal College of Art | London, UK
2013.01 Work in Progress Show, Royal College of Art | London, UK
2012.02 Social Interaction, El Matadero | Madrid, Spain
2012.01 Work in Progress Show, Royal College of Art | London, UK
2010.03 Tama Art University Product Design Department Graduation Works, MODA POLITICA | Tokyo, Japan
Talks and Lectures
2022.10 "Concepts Follow (my) Conscience" as part of JAPAN DESIGN. Arts over the boundaries, University of Milan | Italy
2020.01 "My Client is Nature" as part of Inspire Talks, Design Academy by RCA x IIS Tokyo Design Lab | Tokyo
2019.02 "My Client is Nature", Ehime University, Kiya Ryokan | Ehime, Japan
2018.03 "Designing within the Natural Cycle", SENSE MATSUYAMA, Musée Nadaya | Ehime, Japan
2017.07 "Agar and Design and the Future", Matsuyama University | Ehime, Japan
2016.09 "World-changing Design" - Lexus Design Award 2017 Promotional Talk, Lexus, Aoyama Book Center | Tokyo, Japan
Work Experiences
2014.03 - 05 Assistant (Research, Mock-up making), design studio | Tokyo, Japan
2011.01- 03 Assistant (Graphic design, Mock-up making), design studio | Tokyo, Japan
2010.01- 03 Intern (Research), Nike Design Studio | Tokyo, Japan
2009.07- 09 Intern (Research, Footware design), Nike Design Studio | Tokyo, Japan