"Design from Asia"

After studying architecture for eight years, Masaki Yokokawa was managing director at an interior retailer for four years. In 2000, he established George's Furniture Co., Ltd. While promoting George's, he met a diverse circle of creators and directors around the world. Inspired by these innovators, he felt the beginnings of a longing within: to create a shop that would spread the joys of life by offering individualistic styles transcending the barriers of traditional fields. Seeing in this an opportunity, in the fall of 2001, in cooperation with several people whom he had the good fortune to encounter, he opened what he called 'a life editorial shop', under the new brand CIBONE. Today he continues to launch new projects with various individuals and produce unique shop formats, each an idiosyncratic amalgamation of fields like fashion, culture and food, but all pivoting on the fulcrum of the living space. In the effort to coexist comfortably and harmoniously with the residents of each community in which he opens a shop, inside each retail establishment he includes a cafe. Since 2003, Yokokawa has promoted the business development in Japan of New York-based DEAN & DELUCA, with the goal of conveying the art of sensual supply through the preparation of aesthetically presented and fine quality pursuing all the pleasures and possibilities to be found in the world of the table. Yokokawa's primary objective is to relate his unique, cross-disciplinary perspective to the creation of a wonderful community in which the residents are able to acquire affluence and fine quality in their daily lives. www.cibone.com

PigalleEAC

Kenneth began his passage to design in 1987 studying Industrial Design at Pratt Institute in New York. While completing his degree, he apprenticed for a leather and wood workshop near Florence, Italy. In 1994, he studied Furniture Marketing and Production at the Export Akademie Baden-Wxrttemberg in Reutlingen, Germany under a private and state scholarship program, and subsequently worked in Bielefeld and Munich. He returned home to Cebu, Philippines in 1996, to manage Interior Crafts of the Islands, Inc. Interior Crafts is a furniture design and manufacturing company founded in 1972 by Kenneth's mother Betty Cobonpue, a designer famous for creating new techniques in working with rattan. Discovering that modern design could have a new face using natural fibers and materials as the medium, he slowly created the pieces which form the collection today. Integrating locally sourced organic materials with innovative hand-made production techniques offered an alternative to the Western definition of modern design. Kenneth Cobonpue's creations have earned him recognition at home and abroad. Awards to his credit include 12 Mugna and 4 Katha Awards for design excellence at the annual Philippine International Furniture Exhibition. The Japan Good Design Award was presented for 5 of his designs. In 2004, he won first prize at the Singapore International Design Competition for the Croissant Sofa. Kenneth also won a Golden Shell Award in 2002, a citation given by Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, for embodying the ideals of Asian design. In 2003, he was chosen as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Philippines for his acheivement in the field of Arts & Design. Recent works have produced critical acclaim within the design community. Several of his designs were selected for the prestigious International Design Yearbook 2002 edition, curated by Ross Lovegrove and 2004 edition, curated by Tom Dixon (Laurence King Publishing). Tropical Living, and Tropical Interiors both by Elizabeth Reyes (Periplus Editions) underscore Kenneth's position as a leader of a new movement incorporating new technologies with crafts. He has appeared on European television including Deutsche Welle and Dutch TV, countless international magazines such as Wallpaper, Newsweek and TIME Magazine, and respected newspapers including The Washington Post and the Shanghai Daily News. Kenneth reveals new work each year in design shows from Paris to Shanghai with Movement 8, an alliance of Filipino designers who share the same spirit and aesthetic. He is also a founding member of the Designers Guild of the Philippines, an association of designers with the aim of advancing the design profession within the country. www.kennethcobonpue.com

Casa mila logotype

Sujata Keshavan Guha is the first Indian woman to obtain a post graduate degree in Graphic Design. She graduated from Yale University School of Art, USA with an MFA (Master of Fine Art) in Graphic Design in 1987. She had an earlier degree from the six year programme of the National Institute of Design, Ahemdabad. Besides a full merit scholarship to Yale, Sujata has won several awards for her work including the Eastern Press award and the Schikle Collingwood prize for outstanding work in graphic design. She is the only Indian designer to have been twice honoured as Graphic Designer of the Year, in 1992 and 1994, in the all India A&M awards for advertising and design excellence. As co-founder and Managing Director of Ray+Keshavan Design, Sujata has successfully created an organisation with standards that match the best anywhere in the world. Ray+Keshavan Design is India's leading brand identity and design consultants, with more awards for excellence in design than any other firm in the country. www.rayandkeshavan.com

Yamamura was an industrial designer for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries where he had designed automobiles and airplanes. In 1973, he established COBO, one of the most well known design firms in Japan and since then he has been a leading figure in a wide variety of design approaches ranging from transportation design to industrial development and corporate strategies. He is the author of many books, including, How Design Transforms Industries (Nikkan Industrial Publishing) Yamamura also serves on the jury of Good Design Award's ASEAN Design Collection. www.cobodesign.co.jp/