ENGINEERING DESIGN
Kinya, co-founder of takram design engineering in 2006, is an award-winning design engineer experienced in a wide range of products including hardware, software and interactive art. His prominent works include the tagtype Japanese character input device selected as the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art, New York (MOMA).
A pleasure to speak to, Tagawa is fresh and funny, and we could not have ended the day with a more relaxing and better interview and is the first to ask a question:
Kinya …So, how long have you been here doing interviews?
Laura All day…’
Kinya Oh my god! So let’s keep it tight… (everybody laughs)
You were part of the unit about the robot. How do you like it?
Yeah! It is my favourite. I pick this one! (laughs) One of the most interesting part of the screening is face to face meeting with designers, and I met the chief designer, a very unique person, a very ordinate person, prepared to expose a very interesting product.
There is no detail on the robot, so I asked…why is this model is here? Is this just an aesthetic test prototype? And he answered ‘Oh! no no, this is the final one!’. You see, the aim of this product is for food or medicine process, in this kind of environment with such a high hygene capability, everything is for that need, polishing, moving part etc.. you cannot find the company label on the robot,no ‘Denso’ logo mark information, they decided to eliminate all branding, if there was, it could attract bacteria etc.. it is like they keep fighting against the marketing side.
My self, the first impression of this robot is about design, esthetic and beauty. Actually, everything in the final product is about his function.
I am not quite sure about the shape, but this isn’t the matter, the pure goal is accomplished. Robot industry is one of the Japanese industry strongest points.
Which product was your favourite from the best 100 hundred?
Ummm yeah… (smiles). How about you? tell me yours. (I say the wheelchair)
Oh! Yes the weelchair! You know, Japan as a country is a super ageing country. This kind of product is going to have a big market in the next 20 years. It was very very niche 10 years ago, but now the all population is living longer, so we are very happy about this product.
Can you mention another criteria during judging, a part from comfort?
It is very up to the units. My unit was focused on medical products, b2b things, infactory products, on how the problem is solved.
If you have a chat with the product design unit, their first priority is maybe beauty, their is not a unique criteria, it depends, it is different from unit to unit.
Can G-Mark assignment enahance a designer carrier?
Yes, I would say yes. Maybe we can make a difference between top 10, top 100 and the others, it is a kind of pyramide. If you are selected among the top 100, it is quite prestigious.
