How to Create a Unique Classic Author: [Japanese] Mizuno Manabu / [Japanese] Nakagawa Masashichi / [Japanese] Suzuki Keita / [Japanese] Yonezu Yusuke Publisher: Beijing United Publishing Company

Introduction · · · · · ·
★Super luxurious author lineup, explaining the birth of "classics" from multiple angles. Designer Manabu Mizuno, known as the "Father of Kumamon", Masashi Nakagawa, the 13th generation president of the 300-year-old shop Masashi Nakagawa Shoten, Keiyuki Suzuki, the designer of the "Mount Fuji Beer Mug", and Yusuke Yonezu, a senior product manager, respectively explain how "classics" were born from the perspectives of creativity, management, design, and production.

★Define the "classic" standard by using classic product cases From the Coca-Cola bottle that is over a hundred years old, the seemingly ordinary Toyota car, to the versatile Converse All Star shoes, and the Eames chair that can be found everywhere, Manabu Mizuno verifies the "classic" standard through classic product analysis.

★ Cultivating design thinking is not only applicable to how managers who don’t understand design manage design projects, but also how to achieve mass production of exquisite designs and how to set prices when costs are too high... Regardless of whether you are engaged in the design industry or not, cultivating design thinking will make your work better.

In an era of material excess, have we found what we really want? The era of mass production and mass consumption has passed. Consumers and producers are now looking for things that they can love for a long time and never get tired of, in other words, "classics". So, what kind of design, production and management can create new classic products?

Manabu Mizuno, the "Father of Kumamon" and founder of good design company, invited Masashi Nakagawa, the successor of Nakagawa Masashichi's store, emerging designer Keita Suzuki, and product manager Yusuke Yonezu to form a management team and founded THE, a brand dedicated to creating classics with the motto of "only one model for one type of goods".

In this book, the four core members draw on their own experiences, combine world classic designs such as Coca-Cola bottles, Post-it Notes, and Eames chairs with THE product cases, tell their first-hand experiences, reflect on the misunderstandings and necessity of design, and are committed to setting the standard of "classics".

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About the Author
Mizuno Manabu

Legal representative and creative director of "Good Design Company". Invited associate professor of Keio University. Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1972, graduated from Tama Art University with a degree in graphic design in 1996, and founded "Good Design Company" in 1998. He has designed many brands, such as the famous Kumamoto Prefecture mascot "Kumamon", Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten, and Sotetsu Group.

Nakagawa Masashichi

The 13th president of the 300-year-old Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten grocery store. Born in 1974. Graduated from the Faculty of Law at Kyoto University and then joined Fujitsu. Joined Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten in 2002 and became president in 2008. Won the Porter Prize, an award for outstanding business managers, in 2015.

Keita Suzuki

Legal representative of "PRODUCT DESIGN CENTER". Product designer. Born in Aichi Prefecture, Japan in 1982, graduated from the Department of Production Design at Tama Art University in 2006, and founded "PRODUCT DESIGN CENTER" in 2012. Representative works include Mount Fuji beer mug, THE bento box, Sagami Railway project, etc.

Yonezu Yusuke

President of THE Co., Ltd. Born in Tokyo in 1980, graduated from Tokyo Zokei University with a degree in product design in 2005 and joined Plus. Joined THE Co., Ltd. in 2012 as a product manager.