HARA DESIGN INSTITUTE

We created the visuals and video announcing Warm Innerwear, functional winter underwear made of cotton that absorbs moisture and generates heat. Warm Innerwear is branded Attaka-men in the Japanese market.

T-shirts and other innerwear items are depicted with a gradation of warm colors in order to evoke the natural warmth that gradually spreads throughout the body when using natural material. We gave it clear symbolism that conveys the impression, name, and launch of Warm Innerwear products in 0.1 seconds. We also created a movie in which the items of clothing move in a delightful way. These were shown on the web and social networks, as well as in digital signage on trains and on six screens at Shibuya Crossing in front of the train station.

Warm Innerwear comes in three levels of warmth and a variety of designs. As we gauge the degree to which brand awareness has spread, we are creating and publishing videos that share with customers the appeal of different Warm Innerwear products.

The Hara Design Institute was responsible for all stages of the new MUJI aroma fragrance products to be released in China in December, from product development through to promotion.

The promotion involves placing the products in environments that evoke the clean air of a clear blue coast, an urban nightscape, or a mossy forest, bringing to mind the quiet enjoyment the products evoke.

The Hara Design Institute was responsible for all stages of the new MUJI aroma fragrance products to be released in China in December, from product development through to promotion.

The forms of the double-glazed aroma diffuser, the dome-shaped candle and the crucible-shaped candle emerged through exploration of the rationalized shapes of the utensils used in science labs. Practicality is inherent to the clean curves of their design.
Whether the products are in use or not, they fit easily into your room and enhance the space.

The Design Museum Japan exhibition organized by NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, features video on Okayama Prefecture narrated by Kenya Hara.

With a 30 percent share of the global market, the Nakashima Propeller Co., Ltd in Tamashima, Okayama Prefecture, vies for top or second slot among the world's propeller manufacturers.
The exhibition brings a design perspective to the beauty of form that results from a close examination of a propeller's rationality.

After closing in Tokyo, the exhibition tours to Japan House São Paulo, Los Angeles, and London.

NHK's Design Museum Japan - Collecting and Connecting Japanese Design
Venue: Special Exhibition Gallery 1E, The National Art Center, Tokyo (free entry)
Dates: 30 November to 19 December, 2022
Opening hours: 10:00-18:00
Entry permitted up to 30 minutes before closing time
Museum closed: Tuesdays
Enquiries: Hallo Dial 050-5541-8600
Website: https://www.nact.jp/exhibition_special/2022/dmj/

MUJI video commercials feature talking products

In these videos the products themselves talk about the reasoning and intent behind the materials, manufacturing methods and shapes they incorporate, making their appeal directly discernible.

There are five talking videos, featuring face lotions, towels and storage boxes.

MUJI YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/user/MUJIglobal/videos

SUWARI, a line of chairs designed to fit in well with traditional Japanese-style rooms, was launched on August 11, 2022. The line-up was developed jointly by Hida Sangyo and Hara Kenya.

The chairs went on sale at Hida Sangyo's directly-managed shops and online store. They will also be rolled out to shops operated by Hida Sangyo's partners. The chairs can be viewed on the website, and can now be seen in the shops, too.

The full SUWARI range will also be on display at the NDC entrance from August 22, providing an opportunity to try out each of the chairs.

Hida Sangyo website
https://hidasangyo.com/products/series/suwari/

A new awamori brand, ZAKIMI, was launched on August 8, 2022. ZAKIMI was created from a concept by Kenya Hara, in conjunction with Yaesen Shuzo, an awamori distiller on Ishigaki Island.

ZAKIMI makes full use of Yaesen Shuzo's special expertise in the production of matured awamori (kusu) to create a brand with a distinctive character that incorporates Ishigaki's natural features and culture.

The brand launched with three matured awamori products.
Yuku: An eight year old kusu
Kao: A blend of ten year old kusu with a ten year old cask-matured spirit
Typhoon: A thirty year old kusu

As a collaborator in this project, Hara Design Institute handles the overall design strategy for the brand, including designing the bottles, packaging, graphics, website, and promotional videos.

ZAKIMI brand website
https://zakimi.yaesen.com/

We handled the main visuals and tabloids announcing the new store, which has the largest sales floor area of any MUJI store in the world.

Based on graphics depicting healthy people, we created two types of visuals with a different focus to their message. For situations around town and online that only get a quick glance, the graphics conveyed the store's diversity of services, going far beyond home, food, and clothing. For the tabloids, which people are able to read and study at leisure, we communicated the store's concept and philosophy.

This approach comprehensively covered the appeal of MUJI Hiroshima Alpark, demonstrating its depth and breadth along with its approach of assisting with all facets of life, rather than just addressing people's retail shopping needs.

Kenya Hara appears in an NHK regional TV series that reexamines design based on lifestyles in different parts of Japan through the eyes of designers from those areas. Hara features in a program about Okayama Prefecture, where he was born. The show explores the underlying essence of design shared by Ote Manju, which has been well known in the region for over 180 years, Bizen ware, pottery produced through the bounty of the earth and the skill of artisans with a history of over a thousand years, and Nakashima Propeller, which commands a leading share of the global market for marine propulsion equipment.

The program was well-rated in the Chugoku region, and is being aired to a broader audience via nation-wide satellite broadcast.

Date of broadcast: June 19, 2022 (rebroadcast on BS1)
Start time: 00:55
https://www.nhk.jp/p/ts/2ZG97LMMWQ/episode/te/M875XJZP95/

Yoshihiko Ueda has published a popular edition of PORTRAIT, his portfolio of portrait photographs taken in the twentieth century or the early twenty-first century and featuring thirty-eight people who were masters in their own fields. The popular edition is augmented by a number of previously unpublished photographs and by notes that he made when the photographs were taken, providing a faithful and detailed record of the photo sessions. With 312 pages in a compact format, this is an impressive monograph.
As with the previous edition, Hara Design Institute handled the book design.

PORTRAIT (Popular edition)
Publisher: Tabata Shoten
On sale: June 1, 2022
Price: 4,950 yen

The book can be purchased online at the following sites.
Amazon
honto
Aoyama Book Center
HMV&BOOKS online
Yodobashi.com
Rakuten Books
Books Kinokuniya
TSUTAYA
Title
BOOKNERD