Naoto Fukasawa designs the unconscious

25 October 2021

Naoto Fukasawa is the Japanese designer who perhaps more than any other influenced international taste. A taste intended not only as aesthetics but also as the personality of the object and furnishings, starting from the way they are conceived and designed. The key word to understand his approach is “unconscious” an element that recurs in his story, a window on his world in which another fundamental element is the intention to give what he draws a long life and in this sustainable way.

What are the values that you carry forward with your work?

I focus on honesty, integrity, the perfection of form, and unconscious interactions with different things in the environment. I don’t want people to feel passionate and emotional about objects I design. I want people to live with those objects unconsciously. Integrity is so important in life. Also, I care for making sustainable objects that we will want to use forever or for the longest time.

Those are the things that I am naturally focusing on when searching for the perfect product. I know what people want and desire, I feel and imagine that. I help people to realize their desire. I feel that it is my role.

Do you think the pandemic has left permanent changes in the design of the house?

Life has been changed. People focus on other things than they did before the pandemic. There is not only one point of change, but it is a mix of many things. The working style changed, we work from home, gathering time with families changed, the way of communication between people changed. We invented new and better ways to live than before. Because of the Covid, we had to change and make our life better. We learned to throw away and take out all the unnecessary things from life. We spend good and quality time eating, talking, watching, exercising. We focus more on our bodies and health. People understand more the importance of focusing on the mind and the body. Not only physical sport but also a sport for the soul and mind, like pilates or yoga.

And maybe most important of all, is that everyone is focusing on the quality of our environment, issues like carbon footprint and more. We naturally focus more on what is good and bad for us and the environment’s future.

At home, we need to feel like we are part of nature. We have to feel like creatures or animals.

In this context, what is your idea of sustainability?

An object should be used by people forever. Not just use, throw away and turn to trash. Long life is the most sustainable approach. Everyone concentrates and talks about recycle materials and find new material that is less time-consuming for production. My meaning toward sustainability is – throw away as minimum as possible is the most efficient. People have to think and consider that. That is something that all the people around the world can and have to change. Not only someone particularly, but everyone has to do.

Your creations are in homes all over the world, but how would you define your own home?

Three main things I do at home: cooking, eating, and sleeping.

My senses are always looking and feeling something, touching something. That is part of finding ideas by connecting to things and observing them.

For example, if someone says a word like ‘car’, ‘Bicycle’, ‘cutlery’, ‘glasses’, I could connect to that, and then, I create an idea from my awareness towards things. I already have some storage of incomplete ideas in my mind and when required, I suddenly assemble them all into one element. Embody all the thoughts in one concrete object.

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