HAPTIC horsocope, fall

Gemini

The design projects Kenya Hara writes about in his books are often not “real”. They are proposals — sometimes rejected ones — and prototypes. The challenge that designers have when they get fanciful is that their concepts are ultimately testable in practical terms. Until they are production-ready, design ideas sit in the messy gap between commercial product and art.

Our home has some MUJI products. Although I enjoy visiting MUJI, I wouldn’t want to live in the showroom, however. I once shopped at a MUJI alongside a woman wearing a long, white evening dress. She had a white purse and was wearing white heels. She was wearing a white feather boa. Her basket was full of white ceramic and linen items. Kenya Hara has written at length about the possibilities of emptiness (空白), signified to him by white (白), but this woman seemed extremely devotional to the MUJI brand. Does she listen to MUJI’s in-store acoustic mandolin music at home?, I wondered. Would it make a person exhausted to be surrounded by the possibility of emptiness all day? Isn’t this MUJI store a showroom built to articulate a viewpoint, not meant to be taken literally? And yet, eating a bowl of yellow curry (available at MUJI) in her kitchen must be quite an intense experience! A bowl of red apples would be satisfyingly red in such a space. I imagine her peeling a red apple with satisfaction.

The only item pictured in this month’s horoscope that is commercially available (and which our family has in our home) is the iconic MUJI diffuser. In the summer it’s pretty dormant, but in winter when it’s dark outside and dry inside, it fills the air with forest and flower scents. Everyday magic. 

This season your creativity is high, Gemini, but translating your ideas into tangible results is going to frustrate you. Avoid extremes, embrace the imperfect process of production, and reward yourself for all your hard work. Yes—it was worth it.

power texture: vapour
power sensor: shoulder

Cancer

Ex-formation is the title of a series of projects Kenya Hara conducted with his students at Musashino Art University in Tokyo. For Kenya Hara, to explore ex-formation is to make “known things unknown,” and to revive our curiosity about everyday items and ideas. Soft-serve Ice Cream Machine by students Shino Ito, Aya Kazama and Mona Tanaka was their response to the question: “what is resort?”. 

“As soon as the cone is in our hands we forget the hustle and bustle of reality; we are instantly transported into ‘soft-serve ice cream time,’ Kenya Hara observes. He wonders if this transportation occurs through the sweetness of ice cream, which, like the time spent in a resort, is completely ephemeral. 

The design team for Soft-serve Ice Cream Machine redesigned the familiar shape of the ice cream by using different shaped nozzles and using different hand motions while holding the cone underneath the nozzle. Each ice cream cone contains the same ice cream, but the experience changes from cone to cone. 

The purpose of Ex-formation is to disrupt the modern person from responding to all information with an impatient, “I know, I know!” Saying, “I know, I know” ends a conversation before it begins. Cancers, naturally intuitive, and haters of small-talk, can sometimes move too quickly through the world, sidestepping surprises. As summer comes to a close, slow down and take a break to rest and wonder. Find your way into ‘soft-serve ice cream time’ so you can return refreshed and ready for action. The fall will take you somewhere new and delightful.

Power texture: ice
Power sensor: ear

Leo

The Architects Macaroni Design Exhibition of 1995 was curated by Kenya Hara to answer the question: can food be designed? He felt that cooking can broadly be considered an act of design. For example, the shape of a boiled potato when crushed is transformed into mashed potatoes. Unfortunately, it was a failure as a product exhibition: the pasta wasn’t designed to be commercially produced. However, the larger purpose of the exhibit was to promote the Japan Institute of Architects. While most of us don’t really understand how a building is made, almost all of us have made macaroni, which puts us on equal ground to appreciate its design.

Art director Kaoru Kasai presented the OTTOCO pasta. Its shape was based on the traditional Japanese dance mask, with its “familiar protruding mouth.” To go with it, Kaoru Kasai made a recipe for Pie Stuffed with Pasta and Carbonara sauce. When the box of pie was delivered and opened, he imagined the little mouths of each OTTOCO exhaling little puffs of steam into the cool air. OTTOCO has never been commercially produced, but it is very easy to imagine using it. Similarly, most recipes that I’ve pinned on Pinterest are just things I like to imagine making, but don’t. Imaginary cooking is an underappreciated branch of cookery.

Leo, this season you may find yourself cooking up ideas and schemes with little possibility for commercial production. Pursue them anyway. They will lead somewhere unexpected that you need to go, and will pay off in the early New Year.

power texture: powder
power sensor: back of the neck

Virgo

Minimalist painter and sculptor Lee Ufan is a founding member of the group Mono-ha or もの派 (School of Things). Members work with a mixture of natural and industrial materials. Lee felt that artists’ ability to create has been undermined by technology. Instead, he argued that artists reveal the world by “engaging with materials and exploring their properties.” Demonstrating this belief, Lee produced Relatum (formerly Language), 1971 in 1971, which features large stones resting on cushions. 

A stone on a cushion is ridiculous. But when we see a stone resting on cushion technology, it really does put all of the stone’s qualities in relief. Not just the stone’s hardness, but also its texture, weight, and inanimate bluntness: its total stoneness. 

If you are patiently wondering what stones on cushions have to do with you, practical Virgo, it’s this: understanding the foundation of your practice is key to making meaningful work. It’s easy to get caught up in the speedy workflow technology allows us, but slowing down will allow you to see how the materials around you are actually revealed as they are transformed by technology. For example, when print was the ruling technology for publishing, paper was, as Kenya Hara describes it, “an unconscious surface.” The more the screen replaces the book’s pages as the default for communicating text, the more the true nature of print is revealed: the smell of the ink, the texture of its surface, the sound of pages turning. Reading a book in a print format becomes a conscious choice, changing the experience forever. 

Use the changes happening around you to become more aware of who you are and what you want.

power texture: concrete
power sensor: eye

Libra

What napkin do you offer guests, Libra? Simple cotton, fancy linen, or do you tear them off a paper towel? Produced for Kenya Hara’s HAPTIC exhibition, Kengo Kuma’s Cast Off Snakeskin Paper Towel reveals what a paper towel could be. The Cast Off Snakeskin Paper Towel is made by laser cutting an acrylic model and pressing very thin washi paper against it. The result feels like a fragile piece of snakeskin (the scale of a 2m snake). Hara reports that people feel hesitant to use the paper towel, worried that these ‘elite’ paper towels are too good to be used! A paper towel that feels special enough to use for a guest is nice, but even better is the speed-bump it puts in front of the snatch-and-wipe impulse that a paper towel typically creates just by existing. What if you hesitated each time you reached for one and wondered, “Do I really need to use this?” 

Shouldn’t these elite serpentine paper towels belong to the luxe Cancer or the regal Leo? No! They were born too early and have to make do with some old Bounty. You deserve only the best paper towels to clean up your birthday party, Libra. Besides, your whole thing is balance, and Kengo Kuma’s towels exemplify a pleasant ‘use, but use in moderation’ design philosophy. You would benefit from learning to apply this, too. 

In September, you will have a harder time than usual striking the balance between your work and your personal life. Keep the connecting points aligned: interpersonal relationships will make or break your work projects. Also, if you have been hoarding fancy paper napkins, make a big spaghetti dinner in November and use them up. Carpe Diem, Libras.

power texture: snakeskin
power sensor: belly

Scorpio

Many people mistake decoration and novelty for design, but you, Scorpio, get it intuitively. When you see a perfect water glass, you notice its lovely utility while your tablemates are gulping down its contents. At the thrift store, you spot treasure first. This ability to see what others can’t see, like most gifts, is annoying for you sometimes. Why don’t people see what you see when it’s so obvious? Being a designer often calls upon a willingness to teach, and much of your energy goes into showing, even just by example, what a designed life can be. 

In the book “White” by Kenya Hara, which he wrote to share his philosophy of design, there are only three images. One of them is this 450 year-old black tea bowl from the Raku Museum in Kyoto. The bowl was made by the founder of the Raku family, Chijiro. As it happened, Chijiro, who was a tile maker, was living at the dawn of a new era in Japan. The Onin War of 1467 had destroyed temples full of work by craftsmen in Kyoto — several generations of work was burned within a decade. In the ashes of this ruin, the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa built a simple temple where he practiced calligraphy and painting and performed tea ceremonies. This new period in Japan — the Ashikaga period — is when the idea of beauty in wabi (rustic, austere, withered) became popular. Chijiiro was commissioned to make a tea bowl for 侘茶 wabicha (a simple tea ceremony), and he captured the emerging Ashikaga spirit: handmade and plain. Resourceful.

Simplicity and self-reliance have always been your watch words, Scorpio, and you are entering a new period where these qualities will make your life shine. Don’t overthink it.

power texture: clay
power sensor: heart

Sagittarius

Kenya Hara writes often about finding a balance between traditional craftsmanship and modern production techniques. In late spring at an event called Japan Handmade, several Japanese craftsmen were invited to speak about their work at the shop InForm Interiors in Vancouver. They each talked about the importance of tradition, innovation, materials, and technique. Afterwards, an audience member asked if they felt pressure from an increasingly competitive marketplace to produce cheaper, more market-friendly goods. Several of the craftsmen answered politely before Toru Tsuji took the microphone. 

Toru Tsuji hand weaves wire utensils and servers with his dad for Kanaami Industrial Crafts. They produce two pretty patterns of netting ware: tortoiseshell and chrysanthemum. Because these beautiful items are durable and designed to be used, they are popular with chefs. But they are not competitively priced. Their copper tea strainer costs almost $150, about $143 more than an inexpensive tea strainer from a dollar store. The craftsmen who spoke before Toru Tsuji had pointed out the pleasures of consuming less in quantity and more in quality. They talked about durability. One tea caddy maker remarked that his family still offers repairs on caddies that were purchased 70 or 80 years ago which were made by his grandparents. But Toru Tsuji’s answer was simpler. He said,  “I feel no pressure, only power.”

This season, you are ready to make big changes, Sagittarius. Taking on ambitious projects, raising your rates, and using your intuition will put you on a new path you might not have realized you were ready for. Feel no pressure, only power.

power texture: spikes
power sensor: nose

Capricorn

The sophisticated sensors in our hands help our brain recognize a familiar object in about 10 seconds without help from our eyes. Our feet can’t do this as well. Toes are shorter and less flexible than fingers and the sensors in our feet are less familiar with the information our brain needs. But feet are more than misshapen hands, and contain their own possibilities. While hands spend all day tapping a screen, feet live a simple analogue lifestyle. Their ancestors used to pick up detailed information for us from cool pine forests and spiky rocky beaches. 

Kenya Hara realized that an “amazing sensitivity lies dormant in the soles of our feet,” while on a trip to Bali. He had to walk a stone path barefoot to get to an inn — nobody wore shoes on the path by custom. He found the sensation of his feet on the worn stone to be “wonderfully familiar, like cuddling my old cat”. As he walked on it, he began to wonder how much information was contained in the stone (he felt like it was a lot), and that made him wonder if the media overload we experience today isn’t due to the quantity of the information in our environment, but how fragmented it is — a storm of small, low-quality fragments. Imagine if shoes had insulated him from the stone’s powerful information! He was free of shoe logic.

Plasterer Shuhei Hasado made geta (wooden sandals) with bottoms covered with moss, hay, clay, and other textures in order to reconnect our feet to the natural world. Feet need their chance to shine. Do you have abilities that are kept locked up during work hours? Put a few hours aside in September for your less cared for parts to reach your full power. Go outside, far away from all screens, and soak in the last of the summer’s information before it’s time to wrap up your feet in thick autumn socks. Once October begins, you will have your work cut out for you.

power texture: grass
power sensor: sole of the foot

Aquarius

There’s an elderly dachshund who lives on the top floor of our building. On the elevator and I say to him, “Hi-i! Hi-iii!” in a higher pitch than my usual voice, by which I mean, “See, I’m not a dachshund murderer. I love you! Please don’t bite me.” He gives me a polite tail wag, but keeps one eye on me, which is smart because I’m 7 times taller than him and clumsy. He never takes the stairs. Each step is taller than him by an inch and his long back makes it impossible for him to hop up and down them, which even the tiny maltese on the 4th floor can do no problem. If only we lived somewhere more reasonable like a plain or a field or a meadow, we could roam as equals.

For the exhibition, Architecture for Dogs, Kenya Hara invited Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kaijima (Atelier Bow-Wow) to participate. They specialize in Micro Public Spaces, the little fragments of public space in cities, like the gaps between buildings. For Architecture for Dogs, they designed a gently sloped wooden ramp connected to a seat at one side and a covering at the other for burrowing. A person can sunbathe while their friend climbs up and down independently and/or hides. The template for the design is available to download at architecturefordogs.com.  

Your wellbeing will depend on others this fall, Aquarius, and their wellbeing will depend upon you. Keep your feelers out for people who might need your consideration. And be ready to put aside your independence to ask for help when you need it for larger projects. Delegate and trade in some favours rather than pulling all nighters. We’re all in this together.

power texture: fur
power sensor: nose

Pisces 

When Kenya Hara curates an exhibition, he doesn’t include his own work. For his HAPTIC exhibit in 2004, however, he broke this rule after encountering super-hydrophobic technology. Super-hydrophobic technology was developed to keep snow from sticking to satellite dishes. When sprayed on a business card, it repels any water drop that touches it. Kenya Hara was so excited about the possibilities of super-hydrophobic technology that he broke down and made the Water Pachinko Machine for his own exhibition. Instead of metal balls, his game is played with drops of water. This makes it much quieter than the usual pachinko experience. Droplets of water which are 5mm or less roll like over the board like balls, but droplets greater than 7mm wiggle around like amoebas, as you try to tilt them into holes in the board. “It’s a very haptic scene,” explains Hara. Paper and water are usually drawn to one another, but in this game they run counter to one another.

Maybe in these shorter days you might find yourself feeling tired of your creative work. If you design, even though you are extremely good at it, you might find yourself feeling annoyed with posters, business cards, or other paper items. You might say to your friend one day, “I hate books!” because even though you love books, they are often completely aggravating to produce. Just because you make it look easy doesn’t mean it is. Maybe the most helpful thing that Kenya Hara ever wrote is that “Verbalizing design is another act of design.” Mashing potatoes, according to him, is also design. I think he means that design is just a way of looking at something until you find a possibility in it, and then applying technique to transform it into what you imagined: something new and delightful. The person who most deserves to be delighted by what you make is you. Because YOU, Pisces, are amazing. Find new goals and creative projects to sink into in these increasingly generous nights.

power texture: potato
power sensor: ear