MUJI t-shirt

It's been around for years but I still love them. The MUJI t-shirt comes shrink wrapped in a tiny cube shape that is probably about two inches cubed. It took me about two weeks to actually bring myself to unwrap it, still not sure if I should have.

MUJI t-shirt, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

MUJI t-shirt, originally uploaded by julian marshall sykes findings.

Future of MUJI

As having written about MUJI in a number of articles and compared their products with that of Dieter Rams I found this future message from MUJI and thought I would share.

no-frills

Picked up this post relating to Future laboratories findings about affluent people seeking minimal aesthetic. It seems to be a very similar trend/reaction to what we saw in the early nineties with the move towards 'NO Logo' type brands. In fact at that time in Britain it coincided in the rise of the Japanese brand MUJI. 

Link:

History of MUJI internationally - part 3

Through this new found popularity MUJI launched their first store out of Japan, in July 1991 they opened in London, and since then they have become a truly international brand opening stores from France to Hong Kong. From the early nineties MUJI expanded it's product range in ever more diverse directions. In 1995 they launched household electrical appliances such as telephones, electric cookers and refrigerators. Also in 1995 the company was listed for the very first time and people could buy shares of the company. In 1999 they added maternity wear and children's clothes to their product line all following on the lines of the original concept of affordable and high quality. 2001 saw MUJI work with another household Japanese brand. By working with Nissan the two companies designed the MUJI automobile.

MUJI History Their first retail outlet - part 2

In the June of 1983 MUJI made the planned move to opening one of it's very own stores. As previously planned the store was opened in one of the fashion hotspots of Japan Aoyama. The double-storey store was designed by Ikko Tanaka and Takashi Sugimot and immediately became a talking point with it receiving a large about of media coverage. The store was the perfect spoke person for the MUJI way. incorporating the new and old ways of Japanese culture. The external walls of the store were built from red tiles which were popular from the Meiji period. The internal floorboards and shelving were all produced from recycled materials, having been collected from the knocked down buildings in Shinshuu.    

Crucially the store became popular by youngsters and the creative classes who understood and believed in MUJI's low prices and high quality offering. Within the first year the Aoyama store smashed predicted sales by ten times it's target. In the first year it produced a sales revenue of 120 million yen. along with the success of the store MUJI had now increased it's product range to a staggering 720. Both of these factors had finally brought proof that the MUJI concept could compete even in the then heavily 'branded' product market. Through opening it's own stores up MUJI could control everything from displays through to retail costs and through a gradual reduction of supplying to supermarkets and an increase in setting up their own specialist store MUJI for the first time could call of the shots.

Although MUJI had become firmly established it was not until 1989 that the Mujirushi Ryohin Division of the Seiyu parted from the Seiyu supermarket system and was officially founded as Ryohin Keikaku Co. Ltd. The timing of this separation was significant for the 1990's was starting to see a reaction within Japan and also worldwide against heavily branded goods. People had become weary of luxury items and paying over the top prices for items that were no better than others, and had merely been overly 'styled'. In the early 1990's some people were wanting to move away from these extravagant lifestyles and were more and more looking for simplicity within their lives. MUJI fitted these ideals perfectly, and through this new found popularity began to expand beyond Japan.  

History of MUJI - part 1

In the 1950's the supermarkets of Japan were in crisis. There was an ongoing battle between the supermarkets and manufacturers regarding the final retail price of their products. The disagreements continued well in to the 70's with the Japanese consumer seeing the products available as being "cheap but of poor quality". One of the leading supermarket companies of the time decided to make a stand and through bringing together their creative division the Seiyu supermarkets company decided on a very contradictory way forward. In the late 70's heavily branded exuberant/luxurious products were being seen within Japan as being the way forward. For Seiyu and their president Seiji Tsutsumi they saw a different story, teaming up with the America giant SEARS, who through this collaboration re-established their core values of affordable and quality.

In 1980 with his team of creatives they produced nine household products and thirty one food items. All of the products centered around simple, value for money, They also all followed a rigid colour way of black, white and khaki. As well as all of these values they also concentrated on reduction, recyclable and sustainable, so although products were mass produced there was an ethical commitment to environment. And so through these small steps formed what MUJI was about to come. 

At first with only a few products having been designed and produced, sales were not as good as expected. In fact it was a dissapointment, although the amount of products had increased to forty in the first three months MUJI were struggling with store presence. During a dinner MUJI's president Tsutsumi told his employees how they would move forward. With such simple non-branded products, coupled with having very few products supermarkets were not following their instructions in how to display the products, also the constant competition with other in store more luxurious looking products all made for bad initial sales. 

So to combat this Tsutsumi announced they would set up their own stores in Aoyama and Roppongi, both of these areas being renowned creative centers. Before they could set up MUJI shops they needed to increase their product range and also their reach. So in 1982 MUJI started to distribute their products wholesale to associate shops. 1982 also saw the launch of one of MUJI's longest and most successful products. The product summed up MUJI's language perfectly and summed up the Japan at the time. The product was the MUJI bicycle and coupled with an advertising campaign. MUJI started to make an impact. 

Dieter and Sam

Another example of styling similarities this time between Dieter Rams RT 20 tischsuper radio design in 1961 once again for Braun on the left and on the right Sam Hecht's second phone for MUJI from 2004.

Utilitarian design from Braun to MUJI

Following on from my Dieter Rams article I have chosen the above image to start the comparison between the work of Dieter and Naoto. In this image the left hand image is TP 1 radio/phono combination 1959 by Dieter Rams for Braun. The right hand image is of the Wall mounted CD player by Naoto Fukasawa for MUJI designed in 2000.