Sapporo Design Pioneers, Graphic Design from Sapporo - From Kuriyagawa Kenichi to Hatsune Miku-

Planned by: Wabisabi

This exhibition will give thought to the question “What is design?” through designs related to Sapporo. It will feature graphic designs and the history of design in Sapporo, which started with an emblem for the Hokkaido Development Commissioner, which was designed in 1872 by Kuroda Kiyotaka (who was committed to the development of Hokkaido) but was not adopted.

Design existed and was seen in day-to-day life even in the early development period of Hokkaido, when the graphic design field was not yet established. In addition to maps and bird’s eye-views from the early Meiji era and tourism posters by Kuriyagawa Kenichi, a pioneer of graphic design in the early Showa era, numerous designs created for the Sapporo Olympics, and graphic designs that have been created by designers based in Sapporo since the 1980s will be on display. Designs are now too ubiquitous that people don’t notice that almost all things are designed. Against such a backdrop, the question “What is design” will make viewers reappraise design from various perspectives.