Founded in 2002, the SEIKO Power Design Project is an annual design exercise among SEIKO's internal design team, designed to challenge the designers to explore new expressions of time. Each year a selection of these designs creation have been chosen as "concept watches" and have earned increasingly wide acclaim when exhibited at the JIDA (Japan Industrial Design Association) Design Museum in Tokyo.
Mr. Naoto Fukasawa*, a celebrated product designer who now runs his own international design consultancy has been the director of the Power Design Project.
In 2005, "Fascination" was the theme of this Project. As Mr. Fukasawa explained it:
"Creating "fascination" means discovering things that are good for no apparent reason. We want to approach design from the perception that things are tried on and then chosen, rather than chosen because they represent a standard."
Reaching into their creativity, designers drew sketches, polished or re-drew them, purifying the result to reach the essence of the theme of "Fascination." Now, 13 watch designs and 3 clocks are regarded to have reached the heart of the theme and have been made into prototypes.
SEIKO Watch Corporation is pleased to present these creations at Baselworld 2006, as a tribute to the imaginative flair of its design team. Each design is different and each expresses a unique vision of how to integrate a sense of fascination into the simple functionality of a watch or clock. The wide range of the ideas is exemplified by the range of names: "Lace", "B&W", "Origami" and "Grandma" are just a few of the ideas.
SEIKO Watch Corporation treasures and nurtures the creativity of its design teams and through the Power Design Project seeks to open a dialogue between these teams and the world market, a dialogue that will lead, in future, to new products and new ideas that will enrich the entire SEIKO collection.
Power Design Project web : http://www.seiko-watch.co.jp/p_design/e/2005/
*Power Design Project Director : Naoto Fukasawa
Born in Yamanashi prefecture of Japan, in 1956, and graduated from Tama Art University. Established 'Naoto Fukasawa Design' in 2003. His main works include MUJI's wall-mounted CD player and the new brand 0 (plus minus zero) of household electrical appliances and sundries. Recent works of his for Italian brands that are exhibited include B&B ITALIA, Driade, Magis, Artemide, and Danese.
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B & W
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Grandma
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School Girl
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B & W :
A bracelet watch that appears to have been created from Japanese "go" stones.
The black and white is characteristic of the "stones".
Grandma :
An ordinary attractive watch.
School Girl :
Serious yet frivolous. |
Lace - A lace watch
"I would like to create a watch, which people, at a glance in front of a show window, want to touch and wear, because this timepiece is very attractive.
I learned a lot from the lace material I first handled. Lace looks very different depending on how strongly it is knitted. The lace used in this watch is called 'Tatting lace.' Tatting is a technique for handcrafting a particularly durable lace constructed by a series of knots and loops. I want to convey my fascination with the beauty of lace to many people." (designer's comment)
Origami - A bracelet watch;
the shape resembles a ring having been created by folding a long, thin piece of paper.
"It is not easy to say in a word why I feel something good. I tried to create a physical subject from an abstract idea. During the process of making a three dimensional object from a one dimensional piece of paper, the shape determined the patterns of light and shadow. From this, I got a hint of this design. I named this creation Origami, a Japanese traditional craft, folding paper into different shapes. Origami is the process of making a 3-dimensional shape from a flat surface of paper. This process fascinates me."(designer's comment)