Of course, TDB was not only held in the Aoyama area. I visited the Daikanyama area next. At Paul Smith Women Daikanyama, Australian designer, Bryan Steendyk‘s chairs were exhibited. The bigger one is “Cero” made with glass fiber. Two small chairs called “sub-cero” are the same as the big one, but in a simple curved shape made with recycled material. They were designed to meet the needs of the urban life style, in which there was limited space. With the way of displaying, like studded stones, they looked cute and lovely.

Here is a small interior shop, Cushu Cusyu on a residential street in Daikanyama. I could not find the shop easily so I called this shop and the staff explained the way very kindly. In the shop, things were displayed neatly creating the same image as its staff and I found Design Array‘s work. The stool and tea table by Toyoshi Mori enable you to sit straight in the Japanese traditional manner. There were also stools using aluminum and steel by Riki Wanatabe and Akira Yamamoto. There was a lot of furniture which was minimal but designed from the view of its user.

I realized, by traveling around TDB, that the design itself was of course important but the place, shop and people around the work could affect how the design was viewed. As a whole, including these elements, we should call it “design”.

Next I moved to Plastiq in the Futagotamagawa area by train. There was the straw chair by Tal Gur who is one of the leading designers in Israel. It was made of hundreds of green plastic straws. It reminded me of art homework for summer vacation in an elementary school.