Get behind-the-scenes insights into the making of Japan House London’s upcoming exhibition, Design Discoveries: Towards a Design Museum Japan, with a talk by exhibition producer Kuramori Kyōko, Senior Producer at NHK Educational Corporation.

Kuramori reveals the history and concept of the exhibition which presents design treasures collected from across Japan selected by leading Japanese creators.

Japan is synonymous with good design. Its distinctive design culture not only incorporates expensive items and modern products; ingenious design can be also found in the simple tools, structures and customs of everyday life. Despite this, the country has no museum dedicated to Japanese design.

Japan’s public media broadcaster, NHK, has led ‘Design Museum Japan’ a project which invites leading creators, spanning diverse fields from architecture to film, to collectively imagine a national design institution for Japan. The project has been developed into a series of TV programmes for NHK, talk shows, and a travelling exhibition, a new iteration of which opens at Japan House London on 15 May, following successful shows at the National Art Center in Tokyo and at the other two Japan Houses in Los Angeles and São Paulo.

The talk is followed by a Q&A session moderated by Japan House London Director General & CEO Sam Thorne.

This event is the first in a two-part series featuring Kuramori Kyōko offering a special preview of Japan House London’s upcoming exhibition Design Discoveries: Towards a Design Museum Japan. It is followed on Monday 13 May by a panel discussion in which Kuramori is joined by Johanna Agerman, the chief curator of the Design Museum in London, to discussing designing a design museum.

Please note that filming and photography may take place at this event. Photos and footage of the event may then be used to promote Japan House London, helping more people to discover what we offer. If you have any concerns, please contact us online or contact a member of the team on site.

The event starts at 18:30 and will last for about one hour.

About the Speaker

Kuramori Kyōko
Senior Producer, Art & Culture Group, Content Production & Development Centre, NHK Educational Corporation.
Kuramori Kyōko joined NHK in 1987, when she was posted to Okayama Broadcasting Station as a director. After a stint in the Social Information Programme Department, in 1996 she began managing ‘Sunday Museum’ and other art programmes at NHK and NHK Educational Corporation, developing art and design-related programming as well as associated events. She produced major programmes, including the NHK Special ‘Katsura Imperial Villa’; the 4K programmes ‘Issey Miyake: Design Sensation’ and ‘Beautiful Slow Life’; and the 8K programmes ‘Musée du Louvre’, ‘Musée d’Orsay’ and ‘Introducing our National Treasures’. She was also responsible for series such as ‘Techne: The Visual Workshop’, ‘BijuTune!’, ‘The Yamato Nuns: a Pure Food Diary’, and ‘TAROMAN: Tokusatsu Action à la Okamoto Tarō’. Currently she is working on ‘Design Museum Japan’, a project which incorporates programmes and exhibitions.