Guide to SPAN Tokyo
Watch archived video from our Tokyo event and get to know each of the speakers, including Deyan Sudjic, Mariya Suzuki, and Keiichi Tanaami
Welcome to #SPAN16, Google Design’s annual conference exploring the connections between, and conversations around design and technology. This year, we livestreamed our events in both Tokyo and Los Angeles, so that people everywhere could enjoy the day. In celebration of the Tokyo event on October 6, we put together a handy cheat sheet—three things you might like to know about each of our speakers plus all the talks from the day.
スパン（#SPAN16）へようこそ。スパンとは年に 1 回、デザインとテクノロジーの関係を探り、対話を重ねる Google Design 主催のカンファレンスです。今年は、世界中の皆様にもお楽しみいただけるよう、東京とロサンゼルスの両都市で行われたスパンの模様をライブ配信でお届けいたしました。また、10月6日の東京での開催を記念し、講演内容とともに各登壇者について三点、ポイントを分かり易くまとめました。
Quick Links クイックリンク: Schedule スケジュール #SPAN16 日本語で読み続ける
SPAN Tokyo Schedule You can now watch each of our speaker's talks by clicking "play video" below.
Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham | play video Klein Dytham Architecture
- The pair founded a multidisciplinary design practice, Klein Dytham architecture (KDa), in 1991.
- Both expats living abroad in Tokyo, the duo conceived PechaKucha Night. PechaKucha means “chit chat” in Japanese and began as a way for designers to meet and share work. Each presenter adheres to a simple presentation format where 20 images are shown for 20 seconds each.
- KDa’s contribution to the HOME-FOR-ALL initiative was inspired by a large straw sun hat held aloft by trees. (The building also won the grand prize in the culture category at the World Architecture Festival.)
PechaKucha | play video Throughout the day, we hosted short-form talks in the classic 20x20 PechaKucha style (see Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham above).
Eiko Nagase | play video AQ Design
- Nagase co-founded the interactive agency AQ with Chris Palmieri in 2004.
- AQ organizes a bi-monthly meetup called Ride the Lightning, where designers and developers share knowledge with one another.
- Eavesdrop on AQ’s office culture via their public heyhey, and read some of Nagase’s thoughts on Japanese type on Medium.
Toru Kase | play video Art Director
- Type features prominently in Kase's distinct visual work and posters.
- He first studied economics before attending the Kawasawa Design School in Tokyo.
- Kase is a member of the band Suichu Zukan.
James Riney | play video 500 Startups
- Riney heads 500 Startups $30 million Japan fund.
- He’s on Forbes first-ever 30 Under 30 Asia finance list.
- Riney is also the founding CEO of STORYS.JP—a.k.a. “the Medium of Japan.”
Ryoichi Tsunekawa| play video Type Designer
- Tsunekawa is the owner and founder of DharmaType (as well as Flat-it type foundry, Holiday Type, and Prop-a-ganda).
- Meet Bio Sans, a super neutral sans-serif family designed by DharmaType.
- Tsunekawa switched to type design after studying architecture.
Bin Sugawara| play video Poet
- Debuted his poetry in 2011 with a collection titled Naked on a Veranda, the Rabbit and his Minx, published by PRE/POST books.
- Sugawara writes a regular poetry series for the publication Brutus.
- Sugawara hosted “Public Readings to Make You Go to Sleep” at the Zojoji Temple in Tokyo, a grand Buddhist temple built in 1393.
Sato Shintaro | play video Photographer
- Shintaro’s “Tokyo Twilight Zone” series captures a unique view of the city at night, with long exposures shot from fire escapes.
- He started out as a staff photographer for Kyodo News.
- “I’m fascinated with the colors and light at night,” says Shintaro. “I think in these pictures we can see everything—whereas in daytime maybe we cannot.” Read more in this interview with Japan Exposures.
Motohiro Inaba | play video Traditional Japanese Confectioner
- Japanese sweets are called wagashi. Wa means Japan and gashi means sweets. Inaba’s sweet shop is named Wagashi Asobi.
- Watch Inaba and his partner Rio Asano as they make a confection shaped like a chick.
- Wagashi Asobi uses only traditional ingredients such as azuki beans, sesame, roasted soybean flour, soybeans, sticky rice, regular rice or rice flour.
Kotaro Watanabe | play video Takram Director and Context Designer
- A creative agency based in London and Tokyo, Takram specializes in everything from hardware and software development, to architecture and digital art, as well as organizational communication and education.
- Takram is the branding director for Morioka Shoten, a tiny bookstore which sells only one book at a time.
- Shenu: Hydrolemic System is a prospective gadget Takram designed to help humans survive in a post-apocalyptic world where water is scarce.
Material Design Panel| play video Designers from Google talk about what’s next for Material Design. Get to know a little bit about each of the panelists by checking out some of their writing and speaking engagements:
- Nick Butcher, Designer, Designer Relations - “Material Improvements"
- Yuin Chien, Designer, Material Design - “Reimagining Google Fonts”
- Dave Chiu, Designer, Material Design - "Material Design: Structure and Components"
- Sharon Correa, Motion Designer, Material Design - “Making Motion Meaningful”
- Bethany Fong, Designer, Material Design - “Design Reviews: Going beyond the surface”
Mike Tyka| play video Engineer, Artist
- Tyka joined Google in 2013 to study neural networks, both artificial and natural. He explores the possibilities of artificial neural networks for creating art.
- Inspired by the human nervous system, artificial neural networks are computer programs composed of units that receive and send information. In contrast to conventionally programmed computers, these networks are trained to infer what to do on their own, a process known as machine learning.
- In 2009, Tyka and a team of artists created Groovik’s Cube, a functional, 35-foot-tall multi-player Rubik's cube.
Naohisa Inoue | play video Artist
- Inoue is a surrealist painter whose paintings are set in Iblard, a fantastical land of his own creation. He was born in Osaka in 1948.
- He created reference and background art for the Studio Ghibli film Whisper of the Heart, and also provided a cameo appearance as the voice of Minami.
- Inoue is a professor at Seian University of Art and Design.
Keiichi Tanaami| play video Artist
- Keiichi Tanaami was born in Tokyo in 1936 and graduated from Musashino Art University.
- In the 1960s he started making psychedelic animation, silkscreen, cartoon-like illustration, collage, experimental film, painting, and sculpture.
- Tanaami’s work is deeply influenced by the nightly hallucinations he experienced both after the World War II firebombing of Tokyo, and during a four-month hospital stay when he was recovering from pleurisy in 1981.
Panel on Publication Design | play video
- Lucas Badtke-Berkow, creative director ofPaper Sky. Paper Sky is a lifestyle and travel magazine. In addition to the publication, Paper Sky has an active club culture as part of its brand including five groups—mountain, bicycle, food, book, and Japan—which meet several times a year in various locations throughout Japan to highlight the country’s rural communities. Paper Sky also started an online travel shop.
- Joanna Kawecki, editor-in-chief ofChamp. Champ is a biannual magazine based in Tokyo and London, focusing on “curiosity and investigations into creativity and cultural insight,” and features art, language, architecture, fashion, poetry and prose.
- Kiyonori Muroga, editor-in-chief ofIdea. Idea magazine is a quarterly publication based in Tokyo, focusing on graphic design and typography.
Craig Mod Writer Note: Video of this talk is not available.
- Craig Mod is New York and Tokyo-based writer and designer. He was a product designer at Flipboard, a TechFellow award recipient, and a 2011/2012 MacDowell writing fellow.
- With collaborator Dan Rubin, Mod will publish Koya Bound: A book of photography from Japan’s Kumano Kodo. Kumano Kodo is a 1,000+ year old world heritage pilgrimage path.
- Every six years he reviews a camera.
Yo Shimada | play video Architect
- Yo Shimada founded Tato Architects in 1997.
- The kanji character for Tato, 外 (pronounced “soto”), means outside or outsider, referencing Shimada’s perceived status as an “outsider” architect.
- Shimada makes star-shaped structures out of Post-it notes, that can be stacked and layered in a number of ways.
Yuri Suzuki | play video Sound Designer
- Born in 1980, Yuri Suzuki is a sound artist, designer, and electronic musician living in London.
- In addition to teaching at the Royal College of Art in London, Suzuki founded a creative consultancy called YS Lab, and works for Disney, New Radiophonic Workshop, and Teenage Engineering.
- In 2014, MoMA New York acquired Ototo, a DIY musical instrument, and Colour Chasers, a miniature robot that reads color to produce sounds, to their permanent collection. Both were created by Suzuki.
Masamichi Udagawa | play video Designer
- Masamichi Udagawa co-founded Antenna Design in 1997, with Sigi Moeslinger.
- Antenna has worked on a variety of transit designs—including subway cars—for New York City’s MTA and Washington DC’s Metro.
- Prior to founding his studio, Udagawa worked as a product designer for companies like Yamaha Product Design Laboratory, Apple and Apple's Advanced Technology Group, as well as Ideo.
Deyan Sudjic| play video Curator, Writer
- Deyan Sudjic is currently the director of the Design Museum.
- He has served as the director of the Venice Architecture Biennale, and as the editor of Domus magazine in Milan.
- Sudjic recently published a new book, The Language of Cities.
Workshops
The best way for guests to channel all the inspiration from SPAN was to roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. Workshops weren’t filmed, but you can still get to know what our workshop leaders are all about.
- Pop-Up Portraiture with illustrator Mariya Suzuki Mariya Suzuki is perhaps best known for her site-specific drawings, which are often rendered on discarded paper coffee cups.
- The Art of Correspondence with Mail Artist Ryosuke Cohen Ryosuke Cohen started his mail art project Brain Cell in 1985.
- Fabrication Design with Akiko Moriguchi of FabCafe Hida FabCafe, referring to both fabrication and fabulous, is a place where people can come together, get inspired, and use digital fabrication tools such as laser cutters, and 3D / UV printers. There are branches all over the world including Tokyo, Barcelona, Toulouse, and Singapore.
- Game Design with art director Masahiro Kakinokihara Kakinokihara, an art director at 10inc., co-created the hexagonal card game Rocca Spiele with Trulie Okamocek.
After Party Hip Tanaka Composer, Sound Designer Note: Video of this event is not available.
- Hirokazu “Hip” (or sometimes “Chip”) Tanaka is a prolific composer and sound designer who created the musical scores for various Nintendo games including: Super Mario Land, Dr. Mario, Metroid, Kid Icarus, and Tetris among others.
- Tanaka has been president of Creatures, a video game development company (and part owner of Pokémon), since 2001.
- He has been in a number of rock bands, including the Shampoos. Check him out on Soundcloud.