Entries for the Muji Award are difficult to judge. It is as if you look for a space no one has ever stepped on in a place like the busy diagonal crosswalk of Shibuya. Additionally, it’s not easy to realize the ideas as a Muji product either. There’s no clue, and it’s as difficult as trying to mimic someone who has no habits or special features. The points that are advantageous in other awards could be disadvantageous here. So, participants have to struggle to find an idea considering everyday living rather than starting from shapes or materials. It’s a competition in such ideas. This year, only the winning entry for the Gold Prize was head and shoulders above the others.
The Gold Prize bath towel is very clever. You can use it first as a towel, and then as a bathroom rug when it becomes a little rough, and finally even as a floor cloth. The towel perfectly applied this natural cycle into its design. Using the idea of recycling, which used to be seen in the re-use of kimono back in the Edo period, was also beautiful as a response to the award theme. The schedule book that expresses the hours of each day in a circle was interesting too. The relationship of the circular movement of the day and that of turning pages is reminiscent of the relationship of the earth’s rotation each year around the sun. It brought a fresh rhythm to a notebook.
