Tokujin Yoshioka

Current revision

Tokujin Yoshioka is a Japanese designer.

Biography

Tokujin Yoshioka was born on January 1st, 1967 in the Saga Prefecture. He graduated from the Kuwasawa Design School in Tokyo in 1986. After completing his education, he went on to study design under Shiro Kuramata and Issey Miyake, the former for 2 years and the latter for 4. In 1992, he decided to embark on his own design adventures as a freelancer for several years until he opened up the Tokujin Yoshioka Design Office in 2000. Since then he has designed several shops, spaces for the interiors of many different car manufacturers including Nissan, Lexus and BMW. He has won numerous international design awards. He also has four different works that are on permanent display at the New York Museum of Modern Art.

About Yoshioka

Tokujin Yoshioka does not have a specific area of design expertise. Instead, he has designed several different types of products in his life. He is most known for his interior designs and furniture (including a chair made only of expandable honeycomb paper like Origami), but beyond that he has designed cell phones (MoMA), storefronts and a number of other different items.

Awards

• JCD Design Award (1997)
• ID Annual Design Review (2000, 2001)
• Malnichi Design Award (2002)
• Talents du Luxe (2005)
• Encouragement Prize (Agency for Cultural Affairs, 2007)
• BVLGARI Brilliant Dreams Award (2007)

Permanent Collections

• Honey-Pop (a chair that gets larger made only of paper)
• ToFU (a lamp made only of acrylic and aluminum)
• Media Skin (cell phone)
• PANE Chair (fibers rolled in a paper tube and baked in a kiln like bread)

External Links

• Official English Homepage, Tokujin Yoshioka
• PANE chair