13th Interview: Tokujin Yoshioka | Design

On the 20th of November 2009 I was talking to Tokujin Yoshioka at his house in Daikanyama in Tokyo. His track record is really impressive, but I was even more impressed by his natural and sympathic appearance and his simple, pure and clearly intellectual understanding of the creation of new concepts like the „PANE chair“ or the „Kimono chair“ for Vitra. His ongoing partnership with Issey Miyake started over 20 years ago, and since he presented the paper chair „Honey-pop“ in 2001 he is recognized as an artist in most parts of the world. He was named „Designer of the year“ at Design Miami 2007 and won awards such as the „Wallpaper Design Awards“ (2008) and “BVLGARI Brilliant Dreams Awards“ (2008). Tokujin has collaborated with companies such as CARTIER, HERMES, LEXUS and KDDI, with some of his most important works being displayed all around the world in well known museums such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Centre National d´Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and the Vitra Design Museum.