Keiji Ashizawa

Keiji Ashizawa

The Japanese designer and architect Keiji Ashizawa, born in 1973, graduated from the Yokohama State University in 1996 and has been active in numerous fields with his own design studio Keiji Ashizawa in Tokyo since 2005. He has created numerous product and furniture designs for such renowned manufacturers as Muji, Menu, Panasonic and Ikea. Ashizawa has already received several awards for his work, including the Good Design Award and the AIA’s National Architecture Award 2010. Keiji Ashizawa sums up his design philosophy with the words “Honest Design”. He is concerned with exploring the limits and conditions of each project and integrating different perspectives into a design process that is geared towards producing multi-layered solutions that reinforce individual elements and let the quality and beauty of the respective materials emerge. Regardless of whether it is a building or a design object, Keiji Ashizawa always develops his work in direct dialogue with the respective environment. This includes not only the physical environment in the form of a landscape or a space, but also the respective social and cultural context. In 2011, for example, he realised a temporary DIY design studio to help the local population cope with the aftermath of a severe earthquake in eastern Japan.