Designer Naoto Fukasawa's object lesson on the beauty of function

It was an umbrella propped against the wall, its tip tucked into grouting between floor tiles, that inspired Japanese product designer Naoto Fukasawa to consider how people unconsciously handle objects and how function comes to the fore when they perform actions without thinking.

"Design is about searching for that unthinking activity, then finding the best shape to be placed there," says the Tokyo-based designer, who last month spoke on the sense of comfort at PMQ in Central. The event was part of an exhibition of the designer's products at the Good Design Store gallery within the newly opened creative complex.

"Design without thought" is a strategy showcased in many of Fukasawa's best-known products, including the famous wall-mounted CD player he designed in 1999 for Japanese home-accessories store Muji. Inspired by the simple functional form of a kitchen extractor fan, the design accommodates a CD mounted on the front, spinning like the blades of a fan, and a power cord dangling below that acts as an on-off lead. The idea, says Fukasawa, is to introduce something new while hinting at something that people already know and with which they are immediately comfortable.

"Focusing on how the body interacts with an object is more natural and spontaneous. Your body already subconsciously knows what is comfortable and friendly but this is not the case with your mind. That is why I focus on behaviour without thinking."

Design should not be about celebrating the designer, he says. "An object can exist without me even if I made it. When designing something, you have to consider which factors are the most important. It is not about adding in something to express yourself. There is no reason for that."

Born in Yamanashi, Japan, in 1956, Fukasawa says he first became intrigued by the idea of "making things" after reading that product designers could make people happy with objects they create. "I liked making things but to make people happy makes me happy, too."

The young designer went on to study at Tama Art University and began creating watch and other electronics designs for Seiko Epson in the early 1980s. In 1989 he moved to San Francisco, where he joined ID TWO, a design consulting firm that became IDEO. In 1996 he returned to Japan to establish the firm in Tokyo, working there until 2003, when he set up his own practice, Naoto Fukasawa Design. He has received numerous awards, including the Red Dot, IDEA Gold Award, IF Award and Japan's G Mark.