PROJECT
WAKERS
Office furniture reimagining tools as sculpture. Workspaces become galleries of functional creativity.
WHY
Can an office really become
a place of productivity?
The root of work has always been the creation of value. For example, the Japanese term “hyakusho,” which means “farmer,” can also mean “a person with a hundred skills,” reflecting a time when people used various techniques—such as woodworking, blacksmithing, and sericulture—in their daily lives to create what they needed. This fundamental joy in creation is likely an instinct fostered over thousands of years of human activity.
Frequency of Being Required to Demonstrate “Creativity” in the Workplace
Barriers to “Creativity”: A Cross-Country Comparison
However, the modern labor division has driven a rise in jobs without tangible outcomes, such as office or management tasks. As anthropologist David Graeber described in his term “bullsh*t jobs,” many contemporary roles have unclear value and give the worker little purpose.
Such an environment offers little opportunity for modern office workers to express their creativity. Work takes place solely on computer screens, and “creative spaces” for hands-on experimentation and creation have been largely excluded in favor of efficiency.
With the recent rise of remote work, the value of physical offices is even being questioned. Can modern offices reclaim their role as creative spaces?
HOW
An artistic organizer that wakes creativity.
WAKERS, a new office organizer that displays tools and stationery as if they were art, was created with the concept of “waking” the maker’s mind (creative spirit) in everyone working in the office. The brand name inverts the “M” in “makers” to form a “W,” symbolizing this vision.
While art is often displayed in office spaces, we have redefined its inherent power to elevate human creativity. With this in mind, we designed an organizer that serves as an art piece to foster workplace creativity.
The WAKERS line includes two products, BOX and WALL, which offer a new take on office decor by displaying tools and workspaces that boost creativity, rather than pre-made artworks (i.e., others’ creations). These tools become like art pieces themselves, transforming the office into a genuinely creative environment.
BOX is an office tool organizer that resembles a minimalist art piece when closed and a workspace when opened. Its opening/closing mechanism utilizes a counterweight to guarantee smooth, effortless tool access. When opened, the door serves as both a workspace and a cutting mat. Every detail, including the thin side panels, was meticulously crafted to create a solid, sleek design.
WALL is a framed pegboard that stores office tools and stationery like framed artwork. The narrower hole spacing compared to standard pegboards highlights the tools, making them stand out. With a hole pitch exactly half that of typical pegboards, WALL is compatible with any commercially available pegboard accessories.
WILL
Building companies that thrive through their employees’ creativity.
Everyone is born with creativity and finds joy in creating something. Since we spend a significant portion of our lives working at offices, they should be environments where our imagination can flourish.
WAKERS aims to create an environment that encourages hands-on creativity, making it easier for everyone working in the office to express their creative mind freely. It seeks to foster a workplace that promotes “creation” rather than simply “getting the job done” as a cog in a machine.
With WAKERS, offices can become environments where employees engage in creative work, and genuinely creative spaces allow organizations to continuously create new value while enabling individual employees to achieve personal fulfillment. We aim to nurture this vibrant ecosystem of creativity, contributing to developing companies that can thrive in a changing world.
INFORMATION
- What
- WAKERS
- When
- 2024
- Where
- Japan
- Client
- Scope
- Design strategy / Product / Furniture
CREDIT
- Art Direction
- NOSIGNER (Eisuke Tachikawa)
- Graphic Design
- NOSIGNER (Eisuke Tachikawa, Yuta Horimoto)
- Product Design
- NOSIGNER (Eisuke Tachikawa, Mahiro Kobayashi),
OKAMURA CORPORATION - CG Modeling
- NOSIGNER (Eisuke Tachikawa, Mahiro Kobayashi)
- Photograph