Headline December 15, 2016/ ''' *JAPAN'S* -THINKING= DESIGNERS '''

''' *JAPAN'S* -THINKING= 

DESIGNERS '''

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF when you see a tiny plastic spoon tucked into the lid of an ice cream cup?

*Not much, probably, other than wondering how delicious the ice cream might taste*.

*DESIGN ANATOMY,* an exhibition running through Jan.22 at the popular 21_21 Design Sight gallery here, provides lots of information about the design of such a spoon: one that accompanies  a popular Japanese ice cream, the Meiji Essel Super Cup.

As well as analyzing whether it can cut and scoop ice cream efficiently, and retrieve dregs from the cup, the exhibition assesses the spoon's color, shape and material, and how a tiny rim around the top prevents an ice cream from dripping out.

The spoon isn't the only part of the Essel Super Cup to be probed so rigorously. ''Design Anatomy'' which is curated by the  Japanese Graphic Designer Taku Satch -

As part of a  15-year research project into consumer product design, is equally zealous in assessing other elements of the ice-cream's development-

Including its branding, packaging, ingredients, including the speed at which it melts and the employment practices of the factories where it is made.

The same methodology is applied to four other  Meiji products in the show -yogurt, chocolate bar, cookie and milk   -with spectacularly eclectic results. 

Giant three-dimensional models of the products, their packaging and logos are displayed painstakingly tabulated scientific data and samples of the grass eaten by the cows that produce the milk supplied to Meiji's production plants.

The outcome is a strange, obsessive exhibition, which is dense with information, playful in parts, and unfailingly intriguing.

Starting from the assumption that every element of a product's evolution contributes to its impact,  

''Design Anatomy''  strikes a dramatic contrast to the conventional template of  industrial exhibitions,  in which mass-manufactured objects are placed reverentially on plinths like sculptures.

''It reveals that products have a much richer, longer, and even more complex life cycle than we can possibly imagine,'' said Paola Antonelli, senior curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, who visited  the show last month.

'' Design Anatomy''  is the latest of series of exhibitions to explore the cultural influence of design.

''Zakka,'' an analysis of anonymously designed Japanese household goods curated by the designer  Naoto Fukasawa, was presented at 21_21 Design Sight last spring.

The Italian product designer  Martino Gamper has assessed different interpretations of value in design this autumn in three exhibitions running sequentially through  Jan.20  at  Seeds Gallery in London.

Artists are delving into similar issues. Design relationship to digital technology is an important theme of solo shows devoted to the  British artist Mark Leckey at  MoMA PSI in New York-

And the American artist Jordan Wolfsan at  Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. 

[Those exhibitions run through  March 5 -  April 23 respectively].

A survey of the work of the  German artist  Wolfgang Tillmans opening at Tate Modern in London on  Feb.15  will include the photographs of  *car lights* ,  *computers*   and other heavily engineered objects.  

The Honour and Serving of the latest Operational Research on *Designs, Artists, Aesthetics and simple Beauty* continues. Thank Ya all for reading and see you on the following one.

With respectful dedication to all the Designers, Students, Professors, and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!  -the World Students Society and Twitter-!E-WOW!  -the Ecosystem 2011:

''' Design & Details '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless