FROM CONTEST TO MARKET

Since its inception in 2002, KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD has been commercializing award-winning products.

There are several hurdles that need to be overcome from the stage of an idea that has been highly evaluated as a “work” to the stage of becoming a “product,” such as materials, processing technology, quality, and cost.

In recent years, we have placed importance on the process of overcoming these hurdles together through co-creation with KOKUYO product developers, with the aim of supporting the activities of the award winners as designers.

In addition, with regard to the way products are presented that diversify along with the times, we continue to explore various ways of communication that go beyond just selling products and to take on challenges.

KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD products have been disseminating values and perspectives that reflect the times since the award’s inception in 2002. In this section, we will introduce each commercialization process in detail.

Pencil of Memories

<Takanawa Embankment materials> Giving new life to leftover wood which supported railways during the Meiji period.

RAE

A proposal for a desktop organizer that naturally adapts to new work environments.

Smart Double Clip

This new clip is made from the perspective of end users, not consumers.

Pencil of Memories

<Old house materials in Kobe> The 120-year-old house in Kobe. Giving new life to leftover wood thrown away from used furniture and buildings.

Notebook for Black and White Writing

The design proposes a gray notebook that you can write in in both black and white ink.

Paper Wrap Note

A notebook shaped like plastic wrap—pull some out and cut off a page in whatever size you like.

Manga Packing Tape

A tape that is printed with comic panels, speech bubbles, and speed lines, and you can draw in pictures and words to convey the feelings that you want to get across.

Word Block

Word cards with a binder ring that doubles as an elastic band, enabling the cards to be kept neatly stacked in a block.

True Measure

This ruler indicates the position of boundary lines created between two faces lined up a regular intervals, providing a more accurate measurement of length.

A string of beautiful days…

A calendar where numbers are sewn with a single thread. When you pull the thread the numbers gradually unravel and disappear.

Embossed Notebook

The designs on this notebook are expressed solely through embossing instead of printing. You can also feel the movement of the light falling on the pressed ruled lines.

Bubble Liner

This is a ruler with the scale expressed by bubbles. By incorporating organic bubbles into tools that we use in our everyday lives that are made up of artificial straight lines, we can acquire the beauty of nature in our daily lives.

Stoop

The inspiration that came from the Japanese cushion.
“Stoop” can be used indoors and outdoors by everyone, enabling them to sit down or gather together anywhere.

Wagomu

It is a rubber band made from silicon using the motif of the decorative Japanese twisted paper bowknot ties (Mizuhiki) that have the meaning of "may it happen many times".