WHERE JAPAN AND I MEET

Do you know that feeling of belonging?

Even if you haven’t been to a specific place you can still feel that there is something very special about it. For a long time I’ve felt that I belong to Japan. This post shares some of the things that caught my eye whilst visiting Japan and gives an insight into how I approach designing products for The Organic Company.

This post contains my views and interpretations, they might be prejudiced due to the love I feel for the country, you are warned.  

I visited Japan for the first time in November 2016 and as soon as I left the airport I felt at home. The first thing I noticed was the landscape, the streets were so clean and tidy, with decorative street signs, so well placed in their surroundings.

Aesthetics are concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty, an aesthetic that is attractive to you can please the senses. The aesthetic of balanced and minimalist architecture and design inspires me, many examples of beautiful design and architecture are to be found in Japan.

The Japanese are very polite and gentle. Besides their strong cultural behaviour, Buddhism, which is a balanced way of living, is strongly represented. Visiting their shrines was a spiritual experience. The atmosphere was deeply founded and although a lot of people were there (both Japanese and tourists) an embracing energy was found there too. 

If you think (like I did before looking into it) that plastic is no good,
– then you should know, that Japan have a good waste sorting system and a good recycling percentage (77% of ALL plastic was recycled in 2010. Source: www.theguardian.com). Beat that! : )

I think that Japan ranks at the top aesthetically. They also rank highly on a friendly and polite scale. At least my scales, Japan ranks on top. : ) My way of designing brings several aspects into the process; I want the result to meet a need, I want it to behave and to have an aesthetic expression.

At site or from a distance, Japan is one of my inspiration sources for aesthetic design. And I am not the first or the only one. Danes have been inspired by the Japanese since the late 1800’s (source: art historian Mirjam Gelfer-Jørgensen). Did you know that?

Arigato (Japanese for “thank you”)
Joy Vasiljev