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MUJI/MATERIALIZED:
A look at the thinking, objects and writing of Kenya Hara, with introduction by Michael Bierut.

SMALL TALKS SERIES:
Extra large ideas find an intimate home in a formal setting. Small Talks at Bumble and bumble are opportunities to explore a panoply of visual ephemera, flights of fancy and literal brilliance. Passions will be exposed, methods unveiled, and stories shared in a series designed to provoke, inspire and delight.

Kenya Hara has molded the identity of MUJI, the acclaimed Japanese retailer known for its minimalist goods, as its communication/design advisor since 2000. The MUJI brand is intended to convey a coherent commitment to quality while eschewing the visual hallmarks of a "brand." Translated as "no label, quality goods," Hara says MUJI is intended "to give form to 'living.'"  Similarly, in "Designing Design," his new book  published by Lars Muller Publications, Hara stresses the importance of "emptiness" in both the visual and philosophical traditions of Japan, and its application to design. This theme is visible in many examples from his own work, including the design of the opening and closing ceremony programs for the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games.
 
In 2000 Hara, along with Naoto Fukasawa, commissioned designers  and artists to redesign everyday products, such as toilet paper, roach traps, diapers, tea bags and macaroni. The resulting exhibition "Re-Design: The Daily Products of the 21st Century," as featured in "Designing Design," demonstrates that "the essence of design lies in the process of discovering a problem shared by many people and trying to solve it." (Kenya Hara)

The long-anticipated New York MUJI store will open next month in Soho at 455 Broadway.

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