How to Unleash Creativity in your life and business: Story of Kenji Ekuan

Creativity for One Small Household Item Seem so Insignificant at First:

Dedicated to Kenji Ekuan…

There are relationship between the creative mind unleashed and success…His design won the content and bought by Kikkoman, the largest manufacture of soy sauce.This dispenser has been around for decades.  Probably in every hosehold in Japan.
My family and I love this so much the we purposely use this dispenser even though we don’t use Kikkoman soy sauce as we only use organic soy sauce.

 

Worldwide Significance:

Japan was exporting cheaply made commodities to the West after the Wars.  The Japanese designers and visionaries visionaries commanded and earned  international respect for their trades. 

He also designed the aerodynamic shape of bullet train, Komachi, the fastest and speediest  train.

and Narita Express train that operates between Tokyo and Narita Airport. Also among notable is the groundbreaking upgrade of Yamaha Motorcycle to Yamaya VMAX…

Where did his creativity come from?

[1]  Deep Feelings in Your Heart:

His parents’ home town was Hiroshima.  When an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, he was devastated.  His sister was killed.  His father died of over exposure to radiation.

As a nation and personally, this was the most painful memory that the Japanese people endured in its history.  “Everything became nothing.”

Ekuan immersed in the study and practice of Buddhism. 

• Faced with nothingness…
• So much letting go of pain, suffering and any negative emotions…
• So much soul searching…
• Finding a deep meaning in life…

In spite of his tragic life, he was very open to American inventiveness

Creativity doesn’t just come from the brain.

It comes from the heart that longs to find meaning and embrace all of life experiences.

[2] Creativity Came from Education: 

But he realized his talent and calling was in everyday objects. He enrolled at the National University of Fine Arts and Music in Tokyo.  His passion was to give shape to contemporary “Japanese lifestyle.”
Kenji Ekuan’s creativity was nurtured by education and cultivation.

[3] Team Work:

At the University, we met his colleagues and formed a Group called GK.  G stands for ‘group’ and K stands for his mentor’s last name.
He worked with his colleagues. 

The word design doesn’t exist in the Japanese language.
For him the word “individual” did not exist.
He always worked as a team.

[4] Vision:

He saw Post War Japan suffering from materialism and the Japanese people treated materials like slaves.
As a designer he felt a mission to go deep inside to bring a meaning of each thing that people used.
He compared a designer to a farmer.

A farmer never stopped growing rice.  Nev er quit.

He believed that a designer should recreate a material to be powerful and effective. 

He also practiced Japanese calligraphy with a brush and ink… which is considered to be a spiritual practice.  

Creativity was unleashed out of total annihilation, love of learning, commitment to work as a team and deep mission driven vision.

 Ekuan overcome one of the hardest circumstances, total annihilation that he encountered as a young person.

 References:

1. The 5 Best Designs Of Iconic Soy Sauce Bottle Creator Kenji Ekuan Fastcodesign.com

2. Who Made That Soy-Sauce Dispenser? The New York Times Magazine

3.  Kenji Ekuan, Who Gave Soy Sauce Its Graceful Curves, Dies at 85 The New York Times (February 10, 2015)

4. YouTube Japanese Design (1/3)

 It is impossible to compare one person’s hardship to another person’s.  However, if you would like to improve your situation, there are many ways.  We are in a new era of digital communication and Internet.  Tens of thousands of people have already found a way to achieve freedom in their lives.

 

Meet them in this Free Presentation.