The Contest Theme: NEXT QUALITY
Announcing the Winners of the 2014 KOKUYO Design Award
The Grand Prix was given to one design and the Award for Excellence was given to four designs.
OSAKA, Japan, October 30, 2014 - KOKUYO Co., Ltd., announced that a total of five designs were chosen on October 29 as the winning designs for the 2014 KOKUYO Design Award; a competition designed to attract fascinating product designs from a broad range of users and to commercialize the successful designs, after the screening of a total of 1,442 entries (1,144 entries from Japan and 298 entries from abroad) submitted from home and abroad. (The submissions were accepted from April 14 through June 30, 2014.)
Established to further strengthen our tradition of product creation that originates with the customer, the KOKUYO Design Award first started in 2002, making this year’s award the twelfth time in which the award has been bestowed. (The year 2010 was the only time the award was not held.) The theme of this year’s award was “Next Quality” and submissions of stationery and furniture design were sought by inviting the public to submit a product design that not only provided ease of use, but also inspired and pleased the senses whilst adding humor that brought smiles to our faces, along with captivating beauty that was subtle yet elegant. The 2014 KOKUYO Design Award called for designs that proposed such new values.
The award-winning designs that won the Grand Prix and the Award for Excellence this year are asfollows:
The prize-winning designs
Grand Prix (One design)
| Design name | Generic name | Design overview | Award winner/Group name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sukeru hasami | Scissors | These scissors are designed to be entirely transparent. Their transparencies not only make it easy to cut but also give a beautiful look. The unified materials add to the recyclability of this product. |
Naoki Ogishita Koichiro Oishi |
Photo: A Grand Prix-winning design "Sukeru Hasami"
Award for Excellence (Four designs)
| Design name | Generic name | Design overview | Award winner/Group name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eienjogi | Ruler | A ruler that is capable of drawing lines on both a flat and curved surface permanently. | Manako Kawaguchi |
| Marukezuri | Pencil sharpener | This pencil sharpener can sharpen a pencil to a rounded tip only as needed for filling in the bubbles on an optical answer sheet. | Takuma Kawamoto |
| Honto no jogi | Ruler | This ruler allows measuring the accurate length by indicating a position with a border line, which is generated in between the surfaces placed at even intervals. | Hiroaki Sakai |
| Matomeyasui Note | Notebook | This notebook has partially color-coded sections that are designed to write down points to remember and enhance the efficiency of learning. | Hiroki Nishii |
- The design names, generic names, award winners/group names, and pronunciations are the same as the original texts provided on the applications.
- The 2014 KOKUYO Design Award
Website:
http://www.kokuyo.co.jp/award/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/KokuyoDesignAward.japan
- Enquiries
- Link to "Contact us" https://www.kokuyo.com/en/contact/)
