Naoto Fukasawa: The Original traces the lineage of product design through approximately 150 objects selected for their originality and enduring influence — a genealogy of everyday form spanning nearly two centuries.
About This Book
What makes a designed object original? This book answers that question by assembling around 150 products — furniture, lighting, tableware, toys — arranged in chronological order from the 19th century to the present day. The selection is not exhaustive but deliberate, each object chosen because it changed what came after it. Compiled with contributions from Naoto Fukasawa, one of Japan's most considered product designers, alongside Kaoru Tashiro and Takahiro Tsuchida, the book pairs historical context with a contemporary critical lens. For anyone working in industrial or product design, it functions as both an education in design history and a provocation about what genuine innovation looks like.
Key Features
- 232 pages of chronologically ordered product design spanning the 19th century to the present, with contextual commentary on each object
- Contributors: Kaoru Tashiro, Naoto Fukasawa, Takahiro Tsuchida
- Published by Seigensha, ISBN: 9784861529573
What You'll Discover
- How originality in product design is defined not by novelty alone but by an object's capacity to influence what follows it
- The evolution of everyday objects — furniture, lighting, tableware, toys — read as a coherent historical arc rather than isolated moments of invention
- Naoto Fukasawa's critical framework for identifying what separates a truly original design from its contemporaries
- The relationship between historical context and contemporary relevance, made legible through the book's chronological structure and explanatory texts
About the Author
Kaoru Tashiro is listed as a primary author, with contributions from Naoto Fukasawa and Takahiro Tsuchida. Naoto Fukasawa is a prominent Japanese product designer known for his philosophy of design rooted in the unconscious behaviours of everyday life. [Details available upon request]
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 232
- Dimensions: 22.6 x 15 x 2 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9784861529573
- Publisher: Seigensha
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Product and industrial designers, design historians, and students seeking a critical, chronological account of the objects that shaped contemporary material culture.