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Cover

AXIS Vol.152

2011 July - August
Cover Photographer: Yoshiaki Tsutsui
Feature
Feature

Dealing with waste today

Human beings have become a lot more sensitive to throwing things away in the 21st century. Nevertheless, garbage from the home, as well as industrial waste generated by companies in the course of their enterprises, is said to have no value, and continues to be discarded in massive amounts on a daily basis. How can design become involved in this situation for the better?

Cover Interview
Cover Interview

Makoto Umebara

Perhaps we can call him an “unusual” designer. Working mainly on projects from his home base of Kochi Prefecture, Umebara is involved exclusively in rural primary industries and pays absolutely no attention to large cities and urban areas. His key formula is “primary industry x design = scenery.” In the hands of Umebara, industries on the brink of collapse become revitalized. He is one of the designers who interpret design in the broadest sense and put it into action.

Topics
Topics

An incomparable new cookbook by a former Microsoft CTO

A rare cookbook called Modernist Cuisine has hit the shelves. It comprises a total of five volumes, and weighs 18 kilograms. However, it differs from other examples in the genre in so many ways that it’s perhaps not quite right to call it a cookbook.

Topics
Topics

Recompose by MIT Media Lab’s Tangible Media Group

MIT Media Lab’s Tangible Media Group has made headway in the development of a new interface. Its name is Recompose. The device utilizes gestural input to control an actuated surface, and can be considered one step closer to technology that employs gestures to manipulate objects remotely.

Traditional Craft Forms
Traditional Craft Forms

3.11 Special Edition: Exploring the Spirit of Making Things

“Our shipyard and office buildings were swept away and destroyed in an instant by the tsunami, but our conviction and skills in making things have not been swept away.” This is the message Kazushi Takahashi of Takahashi Kogyo, based in Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, wrote on the company’s website after the disastrous earthquake. Inspired by these words, I payed a visit in late May to artisans who suffered tremendous damages in the recent disaster.