In anticipation of the opening of the exhibition Design Discoveries: Towards a DESIGN MUSEUM JAPAN, Japan House London is delighted to host a special conversation featuring the exhibition overseer Kuramori Kyōko and Chief Curator of the Design Museum in London, Johanna Agerman Ross.

This event follows a talk by Kuramori Kyōko on 10 May providing behind-the-scenes insights into the concept and creation of the upcoming exhibition.

Although Japan is renowned for its excellent design, with many works by Japanese creators considered iconic across the globe, there is not yet a national collection or museum dedicated solely to Japanese design.
During this event the two experts discuss the role such an institution could play, the challenges (and the rewards) of exhibiting and curating design, as well as their respective efforts and involvement in the popularization of design.

The discussion is moderated by Simon Wright, Director of Programming at Japan House London. Audience members will also have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the event.

About the Speakers:

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.

Johanna Agerman Ross

Johanna Agerman Ross is Chief Curator at the Design Museum in London. Before taking her current role, she worked as the Curator of Twentieth Century and Contemporary Furniture and Product Design at the Victoria & Albert Museum. In 2011 she founded and has since then, continued to direct, the leading quarterly design journal Disegno. Johanna serves also as a member of the advisory board at the V&A Research Institute in London and Chart Design in Copenhagen. She lectures widely and has taught at the Royal College of Art and Central Saint Martins in the UK; guest-lectured at HEAD Geneve and been part of crits at ECAL in Switzerland; Design Academy Eindhoven in the Netherlands and the School of the Art Institute Chicago in the US.