Ceramic
Designer|Masahiro MORI
Designing
the Culture of Daily Life
Designer Masahiro
Mori received his first major prize in 1960.
This was a time when everyone thought that things
made in Japan looked cheap.
American home dramas playing on the black and
white televisions of the time clearly showed
the huge difference in standards of living between
Japan and America, and we were in awe of the
affluence of American family life.
It was a time in Japan when the work of designers
was finally beginning to gain public recognition
in the fashion world and the field of graphics,
but there was as yet hardly any consciousness
of designers at all in the area of mass produced
commodities.
It was during such an era that the soy sauce
bottle designed by Masahiro Mori made its debut.
Though no single part or contour was emphasized,
its form left a fresh visual impression on us;
it also had the splendid functionality of preventing
dripping after the soy sauce was poured; and
on top of all that, it was sold at the affordable
price of 250 yen. This mass produced commodity
received the first Good Design Prize awarded
by the Japan Design Committee. With that award,
the names of Masahiro Mori and the product manufacturer
Hakusann Toki Co., Ltd. became widely known
to the public for the first time.
At the time, people were impressed by the fact
that such an outstanding design had been achieved
in a product as common as the soy sauce bottle,
something which everyone uses and every household
has. This soy sauce bottle was also awarded
the Special Prize for Long-Selling Good Design
Products by the Japan Industrial Design Promotion
Organization (JIDPO) in 1977, and it continues
to sell today as a useful product at a price
as reasonable as ever.
Masahiro Mori successful march forward into
the marketplace did not stop with the soy sauce
bottle --he has designed one hit product after
another, including various types of simple,
multi-purpose tableware. As a person who in
1960 had already created a design solid enough
to be used by people for many years, regardless
of changes in popular trends, I wanted to find
out what Masahiro Mori was thinking about and
focusing his attention on today, and I paid
him a visit in 1994.
Growing Lessons and Chance Opportunities
The Mori Ceramic Design Studio is located in
Ureshino, Saga Prefecture, at the top of a slope
lined with the traditional Japanese houses known
as minka. Mori came out to greet me, looking
quite youthful in a yellow check shirt.
Mori is above all a person who speaks his mind.
He immediately criticized the local ceramics
industry as being too conservative."
It seems that one source of this man energy
is his anger about the easy mannerism practiced
in the name of tradition. But since Mori was
himself born in Saga, one would think that his
upbringing must have accustomed him to the traditions
of the famed Arita ware from the same prefecture.
My involvement with ceramics began after I entered
the design program in high school," Mori
responds. I liked painting, but I had so little
interest in ceramics that I didn't even know
Arita was famed for its ceramics until my high
school years." He was born in 1927. For
his generation, youth was experienced alongside
the developments of the war. In the latter part
of high school, I was mobilized for the task
of making porcelain parts for fighter planes
at a local factory. This experience was useful
for the ceramic design I was to do later,"
says Mori, because I was able to make a thorough
study of clay." He also recounts his intention
to enlist, which was considered a matter of
course at the time. Then, with the end of the
war, he had to make a complete change in the
value judgements and life plans. He went on
with an attitude of cool reserve: Ever since,
I have not entertained zealous thoughts about
anything."
After the war, the young Mori spent two years
as an apprentice to a local potter. He told
me about this experience, which directly reflects
another aspect of his personality: More than
the artist's ceramic work, I was drawn to his
self-possessed way of life. But looking back
on it now, I was able to have a wonderful experience
working under him."
After that, he enrolled at an art university
in Tokyo in 1948. He says his motivation lay
not so much in university studies, but in finding
a niche that would provide some kind of stimulation.
He discovered his greatest niche not in the
university but in the design center, the only
organization of its kind in Japan at the time.
Its reading room carried magazines and other
design-related materials from all over the world,
and the leading figures in every field of design
in postwar Japan made frequent visits to the
center. Mori developed a daily routine of spending
the afternoon there as a researcher, and he
was afforded the priceless experience of acquiring
a great deal of knowledge by assisting the work
of his seniors. At the time there were no specialists
in ceramic design, but the fact that there was
no possibility of getting trapped in preconceptions
was probably a blessing for Mori later career
as a designer.
After graduation, Mori took a job in editing
and graphics, but he quit after two years and
returned to his native Kyushu. He has been working
and living in Kyushu ever since.
Aiming for the Development of a National Tableware
After two years working with ceramics in Nagasaki
Prefecture, he took a position which had been
offered to him by Hakusan Toki Co., Ltd., a
ceramics manufacturer located in Saga Prefecture
Hasami, bordering on Arita, the town famed for
its ceramic arts. Hakusan Toki was the birthplace
of the popular soy sauce bottle Mori designed.
Mori and the president of Hakusan Porcelain
hit it off from the start, but Mori knew from
past experiences that nothing could be created
on the basis of understanding from top management
alone.
To the designer, who turns mental images into
the concrete, visible from of a product, the
company president and the people directly involved
in the production process share the same rank,
you see. I spent the morning with the artisans
painting the ceramic wares, and I spent the
afternoons on my own, making use of my knowledge
to produce the paints at low cost. It was expensive
to purchase paints from outside at the time,
so people in the company were quite pleased
with me. Thus the company workers gradually
came to cooperate with me," Mori explains.
And within a year of entering the company, he
had already created his soy sauce bottle.
When I was a student, my relatives once told
me to become an independent ceramic artist,"
Mori says, but I argued that I wanted to make
things to benefit many people in society, so
I wanted to work at a company capable of mass
production." Mori has not only ideals,
but also a calm, collected vision. In his own
words, When working together with the president
of a medium-sized corparation, who is in charge
of everything, you can do industrial design
unless you keep a cool head. The number one
criteria for design is whether or not it sells.
If a product never reaches the consumers nothing
comes of it, so you can go making enemies out
of those who will get it distributed. But they
are reluctant to treat designers as allies.
Sometimes I get mad, but this kind of work is
quite interesting."
Masaru Katsumi, who has writen with great discernment
about the overall fild of design in our country,
appraised Mori as a person capable of flawless
design work that adds flavor to the commercial
aspect. But unlike many designers with a flair
for business, who are simply trend-chasing non-individualists,
Mori possesses a style all his own which is
permeated by a pure sense of from."
Certainly, Mori long career has always been
based upon the balance between a cool-headed
vision and the passionate feelings of youth
summed up in the words to benefit many people
in society."
An Educator who Values Human Relationships
Mori left the design department of Hakusan Toki
in 1978, but even afterwards all of his works
have continued to be produced by this company.
For Mori, aside from the deep connection with
this company, the advantage of flexibility not
seen in large corporations is also an important
factor.
I want to make implements that offer this suggestion
to the consumer: Shouldn t you be able to enjoy
this kind of living?' But such work can be done
in a large corporation because it doesn't have
the merit of being large-scale." At the
root of Mori suggestion is a clear assertion.
all about saying, Live a life that suits your
own sense of everyday existence. Quit living
a strained life; use implements that suit you
yourself.'" This might sound like irritation
at ordinary people for not understanding quality
in things, but that not at all the case. For
Mori, ordinary people do not exist at a distance
from himself.
Mori, who mentions without affectation that
his friends and relatives are all connected
to himself, hold human relationships dear. He
has kept up active participation and cooperation
in efforts to maintain a dialogue with his peers
and to foster the talents of the next generation.
In 1961, Mori was a founder of the Kyushu Craft
Designers Association, the only organization
of its kind in Japan to focus on regional activities.
The fact that this organization has produced
so many ambitious works owes a great deal to
Mori presence as a founder and first director.
Furthermore, educational activities as lecturer
and professor stand out in the latter half of
Mori professional profile.
Last year, Mori was overtaken by an unexpected
and severe illness. His life was in danger for
a time, but he miraculously recovered and returned
to work. Although he lost weight as a result,
his desire to work has not deteriorated in the
least. In September, he also opened his first
solo exhibition in Saga Prefecture (though he
had already held numerous exhibitions of the
sort in Tokyo and other major cities). used
to say that when I got old I would become a
ceramic artist, but it looks like I'm not going
to do anything of the sort. This isn't the age
for creating single pieces and asking for the
world reaction." In the future, Masahiro
Mori will surely continue to insist on Jeveryday
implements necessary for contemporary life."
In 1994 as well, he was a designer who lived
smack in the middle of the age.
Masahiro
Mori Collection at www.chatchada.com
