Tokujin Yoshioka is a familiar name in the design world, but it¡¯s hard to say which discipline he belongs to. His oeuvre spans products, including a mobile phone, watch and chandelier; architecture and interiors, such as his Rainbow Church (2010, 2013) and Swarovski Ginza (2008) display; even artworks like his ¡°Rainbow Chair¡± (2007) that went on show at the 2014 Venice Biennale. He is probably best-known for a functional artwork, the ¡°Honey-pop¡± (2000) chair ¡ª a 1-cm thick wad of 120 sheets of paper that when pulled apart like a concertina reveals a honeycomb-structured chair.
Yoshioka has proved that a design doesn¡¯t need to be categorized. Besides winning numerous international design awards, four of his works, including ¡°Honey-pop,¡± are on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, while his 2013-14 ¡°Crystallize¡± solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, was a multidisciplinary showcase of works.
At the Tokyo exhibition, his ¡°Rainbow Church¡± ¡ª a giant architectural installation of 500 crystal prisms that refract light into rainbow-colored shards across the room ¡ª exemplified Yoshioka¡¯s affinity with light, and in April this year, he brought a similarly stunning luminous structure to Kyoto.
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