As I prepare for my big 2012 adventure to Tokyo, Thailand, and Siem Reap, Cambodia, I am getting more and more excited about what I might discover over there with design, packaging, and typography.
This is my second trip to Tokyo, I went in 1996 and it blew my mind. I came home with a suitcase of food, candy, toys, jewelry and basically anything that was shiney and pretty. Everything in Japan is beautiful and inspiring. From simply wrapped pastries on the streets, to their soda cans in vending machines.
Years later I can only imagine what I might behold. I will be collecting a lot of stuff and snapping picts of as much good stuff as I can.
In the meantime here are some fun Japanese inspirations to get me going on this.
(Above) “KAKIYAMA is a long-established rice cracker brand in Tokyo, their brand-new packages including the assorted gift box, tin box, gift wrapping & shopping bags. The designer's goal was to create a Modern Japanese yet traditional and luxury rice cracker brand that appeals to all ages consumers.”
This quirky product design is by the Japanese design company D-bros. It takes brilliant creativity to make a cheap material like plastic look beautiful, classy and elegant. D-bros has once again created an innovative design, using a flat plastic sheet as a watering can to water flowers and plants. In addition, you can also use them as a flower vase!
Kinoko no Yama (mushroom mountain),
These are my FAVORITE candy bites in Japan, and I love the word "Kinoko" which translates to Mushroom. And they all come in boxes with silver-foil cases inside to “protect” the contents even further. Plus you feel like a little knome when you are eating them.
One of my favorite things about Japanese packaging design is that they often use transparent wrappers with ink treatmens printed. While it's only a 2" bite of cake, you are still feeling like it's a fashionable present everytime you open one.
Really...there are animal faces on match heads!?! Why yes of course! And why wouldn't they spend an additional, say - $.50 per match book just to make them cute? Seriously, I love the Japanese for this stuff, and I will be keep my eyes peeled for the likes of the panda matches you see above!