Toki Yoshioka was born in Japan in 1967. He graduated from the Kuwasawa Design School in 1986 and worked under Shiro Kuramata , one of Japan’s most prominent and influential designers of the 20th century, and Issey Mikaye, a Japanese fashion designer who is known for incorporating technology into his designs. In 1992 he become a freelance designer and in the year 2000 he established his own studio, Tokujin Yoshioka Inc. He has a number of works that are displayed as permanent collections in museums like the Museum of Modern Art, Centre National d’Art et de Culture, Victoria and Albert Museum, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and the Vitra Design Museum. He has received many prizes of which include; Designer of the Year 2007, Elle Deco International Awards, Designer of the year 2010, TOKYO Design & Art Environmental Awards / Artist of the Year 2010 and many more. |
Yoshioka takes his inspiration from nature. “I work to express something that is not realistic in our daily lives”. Although he is inspired by nature he does not like to replicate it.
General Stylistic Charecteristics
Yoshioka uses processes seen in nature and makes it part of the art. He has continuously incorporated elements of nature in his designs through new technologies. He uses organic forms and experience economy as his exhibition works are always displayed while music is being played. For his other works like the Rainbow Church, seen on the right, is made out of 500 crystals, viewers are welcome to go inside the installation and view the work as the prisms refract light in rainbow-coloured shards all around the room. The viewer not only gets to view the work but experiences it as well. Yoshioka constantly uses glass and other light transparent materials. He favors classic geometric forms instead of organic forms. Many of his works are transparent but always viewed against grey backgrounds this gives a minimalist feel to Yoshioka's work. |
The KOU-AN Glass Tea House is placed outside the Kyoto Prefecture (A Japanese Temple and National Treasure) and this meshes experience economy with heritage and conservation. The tea house is a type of homage to Japanese culture and the culture that surrounds the tea ceremony. In 2002 the idea of Transparent Japanese houses were presented. The tea house is transparent, symbolic of the Japanese cultural image. Originally the ceremony was done in a closed off microcosmic space. The use of glass creates a feeling of openness, Yoshioka uses glass specifically so that the traditional style can be seen as more modern because of the transparency and not only because of the modern type architecture. The Architecture of the tea house is not completely modern as it takes inspiration from the vernacular of classical mid century Japanese temples. In the image below we see the tea house in full view against the temple and it looks as though the modern Japanese society and culture is represented through the glass tea house and the traditional culture is represented by the old temple. By placing it in front of the temple and using materials and non-organic forms that are typical of modern architecture, it feels like the old Japanese traditions are being seen through modern eyes. The tea house itself is completely symmetrically balanced as it is completely square, it also has a smooth texture. The elements all work together and this creates harmony in the piece. |
Let me confirm your suspicions. Yes this was a school project that I've turned into an article. I take Design as a subject at school and this is one of the designers I chose to research for a project and I've become rather appreciative of Yoshioka's work and so I thought I'd share with you the beauty that is the clean, minimalist Japanese works that is Tokujin Yoshioka. I've put my favourite works of his on this but he has done many MANY projects and if you'd like to see more of them click here.