Discover the genius behind everyday objects’ design at fun Hong Kong experience

In 2010, the Japanese broadcaster NHK launched a children’s educational television series called Design Ah! to highlight the intricate design aspects of everyday objects. The short episodes charmed children and adults alike with their creative and accessible explanations of how the most ordinary things in life, such as bottle caps, are cleverly designed.

Design Ah! spawned an exhibition that allowed visitors to get hands-on with the concepts and ideas explained in the long-running series. Now, the first overseas version of the exhibition is drawing crowds at the M+ museum in Hong Kong under the title “Design Ah! Experience the Wonder of Everyday Design”.

Both the TV series and the exhibitions make people go “ah!” by methodically dissecting objects and laying out the pieces to show how they are engineered.

A classic Japanese leather school satchel is unstitched to expose the metal buckles, leather panels and cardboard lining. A cup noodle is disassembled, from its plastic wrapping, paper lid and styrofoam cup to the compressed block of noodles, seasoning powder and dried ingredients. A piece of tuna sushi is separated into the raw tuna slice, green wasabi and literally several hundred grains of rice.

The enthralling designs of the natural world are revealed, too, as seen in the intricate make-up of broccoli and Shimeji mushrooms.

Of the 21 stations, nine have been localised for Hong Kong by the M+ team, whose research included going to supermarkets, stationery shops and Shanghai Street stores. They took Pantone colour matchers with them so that they could identify the specific hues of everything from dim sum dishes to pedestrian crossing stripes.