Happy New Year to everyone. At the beginning of the year 2024, we would like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and thank all our customers, partners and local residents in the vicinity of our studio, as Designcafe celebrates its 20th anniversary in June this year and its 15th anniversary as a legal entity in March. Once again, we would like to thank you all.
Particularly in the 15 years since the establishment of the corporation, we have faced new initiatives one by one as requested, while experiencing major social changes, starting with the Lehman Shock, the Great East Japan Earthquake and the stagnation of social activities due to the COVID-19. On the occasion of its 20th anniversary, Designcafe will shift from its previous activities (communication design in the environmental field) to ‘space branding’ based on communication design. This is a scheme to design mechanisms and devices in spaces (shops, showrooms, exhibition booths), which are important touchpoints in business, to induce action and accelerate business in the right direction. Several projects have already been launched and will be implemented this year, so look out for multi-purpose space branding from Designcafe.
Last year, the COVID-19 that raged around the world entered an ‘after-corona’ phase, and public sentiment has calmed down. At the same time, on a global scale, regional unrest (Ukraine crisis, Gaza-Israel conflict) has been frequent, and supply chain supply concerns continue due to the effects of the corona disaster. The situation is also of concern to Japan, which relies on imports for the majority of its raw materials and foodstuffs. In Japan, in contrast, the ongoing monetary easing policy of the Bank of Japan has accelerated the depreciation of the yen and led to across-the-board price increases for most imported materials. The yen’s depreciation has a major impact on Japan, a country with domestic demand, but overseas, it has been pointed out that the effects of monetary tightening will have a clear ripple effect on economic activity and may lead to continued low growth, particularly in China, where the end of excessive property development by local governments (property bubble) and the lack of significant economic stimulus by the central government have led to a slowdown in the economy. The economic slowdown has not been halted because of the ineffectiveness of the local government’s excessive property development (property bubble) and the central government’s conspicuous economic stimulus measures. Although the yen’s depreciation due to interest rate differentials tends to attract attention, there are many positive factors in domestic demand (compared with overseas demand), such as the resumption of economic activity and a sharp recovery in inbound visitors with regard to households, and in the corporate sector, the revitalisation of capital investment in digitalisation and climate change, etc. Some experts believe that the current yen depreciation will be tolerable. Our work in spatial branding and environmental design is easily influenced by domestic demand due to the nature of our clients’ businesses, so we will continue to monitor this closely.
The Corona disaster has changed the way we behave and our mindsets, but in business, Dx has become more prevalent, with remote working and working under online communication, etc. At Designcafe, we continue to implement shift work (hybrid work) that combines attendance and remote working. We have spent the first year of AfterCorona in a style where we now work (and live) in three locations – Tokyo, Kanazawa and Kariya. We will continue with various initiatives, including working styles, Designing-Dx and workflows that will also expand Designcafe’s portfolio in the future.
On the other hand, new values are being fostered in terms of how people live and work, especially those who enjoy the benefits of working remotely without having to choose where they work, and to respond to this new trend, in April last year we opened our own design base in Kanazawa, Hokuriku, using our own property. HiDEOUTLab” (HiDEOUTLab) opened in Kanazawa, Hokuriku in April last year. This year, we will also start a new business in collaboration with a company (inbound services) in the Kanazawa suburbs.
We look forward to working with Designcafe in 2024, our first year looking ahead to the next 10 or 20 years.
New Year’s Day, 2024 / HIRASAWA FUTOSHI
P.S.: Immediately after this entry was published, a very large earthquake occurred in the Noto region of Ishikawa Prefecture. We would like to express our deepest sympathies for the earthquake and pray for the safety of everyone in the region and for an early recovery.
The HiDEOUTLab in Kanazawa was also affected by the disaster, but fortunately no one was injured and damage to buildings and equipment was minor, so the start of work on 5 January will be as normal. We have received many messages of sympathy and safety from many people. Once again, we would like to thank you for your concern and concern for our safety. We expect aftershocks to continue for some time, so we will remain vigilant and focus on rebuilding the region, even if only in a small way.
With just over seven days to go this year, it is time for year-end greetings.
After three years of viral outbreaks, the new coronavirus infection was lowered to category 5 in early spring, and the last seven months of the post-corona period have been a year in which Designcafe has had many opportunities to receive new enquiries, and for Designcafe, our findings have been questioned. It has been a year of turning points for the future, as we have been able to actively take on new challenges while rethinking the nature of communication design in the environment, encompassing spatial design, spatial branding and digital branding under the after-corona. Our first design lab, HiDEOUTLab, which we have been preparing for about six years, is now operational, and we have started work from two bases, in Tokyo and Kanazawa, and we have been blessed with good relationships throughout the year.
Our New Year’s holiday schedule is as follows. The new year will start on 5 January 2024. We wish you a happy new year’s holiday.
2023. Wednesday, 27 December: normal business hours / last day Thursday, 28 December: closed all day Friday, 29 December: closed all day Saturday, 30 December: closed all day Sunday, 31 December: closed all day 2024 Closed all day on Monday 1 January Closed all day on Tuesday, 2 January Closed all day on Wednesday, 3 January Closed all day on Thursday, 4 January 5 Jan (Fri) Normal business (first day of work) (The same schedule applies to both Tokyo and Kanazawa)
This year, even though the first autumn has passed, the weather has been unstable and the heat is still on. Since the reduction of new coronavirus infections to category 5, our business environment has been busy and has recovered to its previous state, for which all of us are sincerely grateful. This year we also opened HiDEOUTLab as a satellite lab in Kanazawa, Hokuriku, and four months have passed since we started our activities at two locations. Although we are still new to this, we would like to thank you for your continued support of Designcafe.
The year is fast approaching and it is time for us to give our year-end greetings.
The covit2019 crisis has entered its third year, and for a time the situation was unpredictable due to the outbreak of infection, but there was a sense that the situation had calmed down and the situation was being addressed, and it was a year in which we could feel a significant recovery compared to last year. Designcafe, which makes its living designing spaces, also felt that it had a lot to retry while rethinking how space design and communication design should be under the With Corona situation. Although we continue to deal with the Corona disaster, there is a sense that the tide has turned, especially in the second half of the year, and we have been blessed with good relationships and have safely reached the end of the year while being involved in new challenges. We will continue to maintain the combination of shift work with teleworking that permeated the Corona disaster, and we will continue to take on new challenges in the new year. We will continue to take good infection control measures and spend the New Year’s holiday resting and preparing for the coming year.
Our New Year’s holiday schedule is as follows. The new year will start on 4 January 2023, and we would like to wish as many people as possible a safe and healthy holiday season, being aware of the With Corona.
