Japanese Literary Awards

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Tokujin Yoshioka

よしおか とくじん

Yoshioka Tokujin

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1967-01-01 （Saga Prefecture, Japan）
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
Designer, Artist
Active Years
1986-
Influenced By
Leonardo da Vinci

Education

Kuwasawa Institute of Design
Period: 〜1986
Year of Graduation: 1986
Country: Japan
After graduation studied under Shiro Kuramata and collaborated with Issey Miyake.

Awards

JCD Design Award — Grand Prize
1997
Organization: Japan Commercial Environmental Design Association (JCD)
Result: winner
Mainichi Design Award
2002
Organization: Mainichi Newspapers
Result: winner
Art Encouragement Prize (New Artist) — Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology
2007
Organization: Agency for Cultural Affairs (Japan)
Result: winner
Design Miami — Designer of the Year
2007
Organization: Design Miami
Result: winner
Elle Decor International Design Awards — Designer of the Year
2009
Organization: Elle Decor
Result: winner
Maison & Objet — Creator of the Year
2012
Organization: Maison & Objet
Result: winner
Milano Design Award — Grand Prize
2017
Organization: Milano Design Award
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Honey-pop

2001 Product / Chair

A paper chair made by layering thin sheets; when expanded it forms a honeycomb structure and is stabilized by the sitter.

natural structurepaper materiallightness

Water Block — Glass Bench

2002 Installation / Sculpture

A transparent bench made of optical glass; several pieces are on permanent display at Musée d'Orsay.

lighttransparencydialogue with history

VENUS — Natural Crystal Chair

2008 Experimental sculpture

A project in which crystals are grown in tanks to form chair-like crystal structures.

crystallizationsound and vibrationprocess of formation

Rainbow Church

2010 Architectural installation

An architectural work using hundreds of crystal prisms to fill a space with spectrum and color.

experience of lightprismsensory expansion

Glass Tea House — Kou-an

2011 Architecture / Installation

A reinterpretation of the traditional tea house in glass; presented at the Venice Biennale and installed at Shogunzuka in Kyoto.

tradition and modernitytransparencylight and space

Bibliography

  • Tokujin Design (GAP Publishing, 2001)
  • Tokujin Yoshioka Design (Phaidon, 2006)
  • Second Nature (Kyuryudo, 2008)
  • Invisible Forms (Esquire Magazine Japan, 2009)
  • Sensing Nature (Heibonsha, 2010)
  • TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA (Rizzoli, 2010)
  • TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA_Crystallize (Seigensha, 2013)
  • Kou-an: Glass Tea House (Kyuryudo, 2017)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
minimalist expressionexperimental forms exploring material essence
Recurring Motifs
lightglasscrystallizationtransparency

Legacy

Tokujin Yoshioka is an internationally acclaimed designer/artist who designs sensory experiences through light and materials; his works are held in major museums worldwide and he has led numerous public projects and brand collaborations.

Museums

  • Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) New York, United States
  • Centre Pompidou Paris, France
  • Musée d'Orsay Paris, France
  • Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) London, United Kingdom

In Popular Culture

  • Designed the torch for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games
  • Widely known through international design awards and coverage in major media

Trivia

  • Designed the relay torch for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
  • Works are in permanent collections of major museums such as MoMA, Musée d'Orsay and the V&A.