HARA Kenya

Born in Okayama Prefecture in 1958, HARA is a professor at Musashino Art University and representative of the Nippon Design Center. He is concerned with designing "circumstances" as much as "things." Since 2002 he has been a member of the Advisory Board of MUJI, where he is in charge of art direction. Through exhibitions and other projects designed from an original perspective, including RE-DESIGN and HAPTIC, he explores design possibilities latent in the everyday and in human sense perceptions. Recent works include commercial product designs for companies such as AGF, JT and KENZO, the Matsuya Ginza renewal project, Mori Building VI, and design direction for the Daikanyama Tsutaya Book Store. His books include Design no Design (Design of Design, Iwanami Shoten, 2003), and Nihon no Design (Design of Japan, Iwanami Shoten, 2011).