An important and influential figure in contemporary design, Teruo Kurosaki works in Tokyo. As both curator and innovative producer, he characterizes design as a way of life, and compares it to music whose sounds spread worldwide. One of the initiatives that won Kurosaki world attention was Tokyo Designers Block (TDB) in 1999. This popular international design event presented hundreds of designers the world over and extended to some 400 stores, galleries and alternative spaces throughout Tokyo, far beyond the normal range of galleries and shops meant for an elite clientele. Kurosaki is also well known as a talent finder and a general design maven who is not limited to any single aspect of design.
In the 1980s Kurosaki opened the Tokyo design store Idée, where many classics of contemporary design were shown. Idée later turned into a chain of design stores, each specializing in a different design concept. Here Kurosaki initiated various design projects with international designers who have since become leading figures, including Philippe Starck, Marc Newson, Shiro Kuramata and others. The resulting ventures encouraged learning, dialogue and cross-fertilization between Japanese and Western designers.
Kurosaki’s current venture is Flowstone, a company dedicated to design education and to providing consultations for international design events. Flowstone stands for an approach to design as an attitude and a democratically accessible way of life. Another of Kurosaki’s brain children, Sputnik Design, an international design collective, showed in the London Designers Block in 2000 with an edgy, alternative flair. Sputnik exemplifies Kurosaki’s vision of design as both commercially profitable and a potential source for social change, a way of influencing lifestyle and living spheres.
