Kokuyo Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Osaka City; President: Akihiro Kuroda) has announced the Kokuyo Design Award 2008 design competition, and is encouraging all those wishing to participate to submit their user-oriented product designs. The goal of the competition is to develop excellent ideas into commercial products. Applications are accepted from April 1 to June 30, 2008.

Theme: “Carbon”
The carbon in our bodies can account for as much as 20% of our body weight.
Excluding water, carbon makes up more than one-half of the composition of our body.

The earth was once covered in carbon dioxide. The first living creatures used the power of the sun to form their bodies from this massive amount of carbon. Plants continued this method, and today we live amid carbon that has accumulated since prehistoric times. Many of the natural materials we use every day are compounds of carbon; wood, paper, cloth, leather, and plastics made from fossil fuels such as petroleum and coal. Creatures ingested carbon from the atmosphere to make these natural materials.

We also use a wide range of materials formed exclusively from carbon, such as diamonds, pencil lead, carbon fibers, and the toner used in copy machines. New materials such as carbon nanotubes are also attracting attention.

The theme of this competition is carbon building block of life. This does not mean we are looking solely for charcoal designs. All materials containing carbon such as paper, cloth, various plastic products, wood, and gas or gasoline are acceptable. Please try designing a lifestyle that incorporate carbon, thinking about where the carbon came from and where it will go after use.

Category:
Objects used in the office, home, or public spaces
# Stationery (include household items)
# Furniture (only chairs)

Deadline:
Works must be arrived between April 1 and June 30, 2008

Judges:
Shunji Yamanaka (Jury Chair, Designer/President of LEADING EDGE DESIGN)
Oki Sato (Designer/President of nendo)
Fumie Shibata (Industrial Designer/President of Studio S)
Manabu Mizuno (Art Director/President of good design company)
Akihiro Kuroda (President, Kokuyo Co., Ltd.)

Prizes:
Grand Prize: 2 million yen
Second Prize (4 winners):500,000 yen each
Special Prize (5 winners): 100,000 yen each
*Prize amounts are subject to income tax, and is the responsibility of the recipients

Organizer:
Kokuyo Co., Ltd.

Sponsors:
Axis Design Magazine

For more information, visit http://www.kokuyo.co.jp/award/

Where to send your works and/or inquiries:
Kokuyo Design Award office
Ueki Bldg. 4F 5-3-4 Ueno Taito-ku Tokyo 110-0005, JAPAN
MAIL: award@mrk.kokuyo.co.jp