Wednesday 12 October 2011

Shiro Yamanaka won the Good Design Award 2011: Congratulations !

For those who know Shiro Yamanaka, this will not come as a surprise. Shiro's design is GOOD. We all knew that. But now that he has got the trophy, it is official. Congratulations, Shiro-san !




The UMEZUKI organic tea owners adopted an effective branding strategy: they employed Shiro to think of their tea. Tea, there is nothing special about that, one might say, we have got it all around, we drink it every day. Well, actually, here one might be wrong. How much do we know about the tea we choose to drink? What do we know about its nature, growth, or ethical behaviour?

Note that the UMEZUKI owners are independent. That changes a lot of things in the process of trading tea, in the way the owners try to connect with customers, in the admirable fact that they actually try to connect directly. UMEZUKI customers are not seen as simply consumers, but as people loving tea as much as the owners do. The concept behind Shiro's design is very simple: human + nature = true communication.

UMEZUKI approches you directly, and trades its ethical, organic tea for your pleasure. It is independent, and therefore does not trade ethical choices.

You can read about Shiro's winning project here:  http://www.hi-culture.com/archive/umezuki/




SHIRO, that is of course him ...




... or better, his display window. If you are looking for a small design firm where an interesting independent young man allows himself to be creative, tenderly care for his young family and in the weekends, yeah, "rave", well, since it is not trying to attract attention at all, you will most probably not find it. But you will wish you did, for this place is super-cool. Have another look, it is right there, on the corner !

Or, if you wish to put a face to the name, this is, Shiro Yamanaka, the designer you might just need. http://www.hi-culture.com/about/ ...

Once again, well done, Shiro ! 

Note: Someone was wondering what does UMEZUKI mean. These are the kanji-s: 梅月. The first kanji stands for ume, or Japanese apricot. See an image of ume flowers here. The second kanji stands for tsuki, or moon. Otherwise, "Umezuki" does not have any special meaning.

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