March 7, 2017 Venue Report (Part 1)
What are the ideas to build a store or facility plan to attract people's eyes and have a pleasant time?
"JAPAN SHOP 2017" was gathered by 186 companies providing various design and solutions for commercial space.
In this year's exhibition, exhibitors who highlighted the themes closer to people's feelings stood out.
Reported by Hisashi Ikai
01.COMBIWITH
COMBIWITH is a baby & child facility product developer. It set up a stage at a corner of its booth, which was wider than usual, and held a presentation by product representatives three times a day (11:30a.m. , 1:00 p.m., and 3:30p.m.). In addition to the features and handling methods of the products, it held a session to convey the importance of their maintenance.
The featured new products were the "Public high chair" and the "Angel Wagon."
The Public high chair adopts a waist belt for the unstable infants. By making the bottom part longer than before, more stability was secured.
On the other hand, the Angel Wagon equipped three levels of reclining function on the seat so that the child could sit comfortably. Both are approved by "SG Standards" certified by the Consumer Product Safety Association.
02.AICA Kogyo
AICA Kogyo, from Aichi Prefecture, is involved in the manufacture of various building materials, printed circuit boards, etc., mainly in melamine decorative boards, added 45 new patterns to the highly decorative laminate board "+ WONDER (Plus Wonder)," which expresses glass texture and dynamic natural stone.
Counting from its start from four years ago, the diverse line-up has grown up to 185 items in total.
On the other hand, a new product was announced as the incombustible veneer "Ardica". Using calcium silicate as a base material, it is lightweighted, easy-to-process, with a high functionality and rich expression as its embossed surface can be changed according to its pattern.
34 patterns of melamine board "Kyo Katagami" which are motifs made for traditional Japanese patterns such as kimonos and yukata, were presented. The person in charge said that it is effective for appealing to overseas travelers visiting Japan.
03.TRITERASU
TRITERASU is a light guide plate manufacturer that proposes a new "light shape" with its patented technology and LED light source. The booth consisted variety of examples recreating the cases the company has worked on. It introduced examples from gigantic gates and cylinders incorporating a light guide plate into a building itself, to general cases such as sign designs and signboards.
Depenging on the client's order, the lighting may be changed to the client's corporate color by adjusting the light's pattern, illuminance, and color.
In addition, as the world's first attempt, a smoke barrier wall made from a light guide plate was exhibited. By adding decorativeness to a functional wall that prevents smoke in case of fire, the possibility of spatial design has expanded further.
04.Okamura Corporation
Okamura Corporation proposes multi-functional furniture for facilities. The booth consists of two parts: the basic "standard" (blue panel), and the challenging "next" (orange panel).
As a topic of this year, "Aluminum Frame System" was announced. Compared to the past steel frame, the frame system is light weighted, rust resistant, and highly processable that creates a sharp frame with an edge. Since its loading capacity of 30 kg per shelf, it can be used for merchandising display without any problems.
In addition, a security system that prevents picking mistakes in pharmacies through a projection mapping "light guide" was proposed as a possibility for the future.
05.YAMAHA MUSIC JAPAN
Yamaha Music Japan became its second attend following from last year. In order to appeal not only its high performance of acoustic equipment, but also how high-quality sound is useful for spatial atmosphere and environmental creation, the booth was decorated as a jazz bar.
The piano "Disklavier ENSPIRE" with an automatic performance function has about 500 songs built in. By offering a wide range of music that mixes orchestras and songs with automatic performance, it is thought to be able to accommodate not only hotels and bars, but also various commercial spaces.
Also, the lighting series "Relit" equipped with the speaker function caught attention. It seems that by naturally blending light and sound, producing a vague feeling to the space, creates more rich and comfortable time for people.
06.Dai Nippon Printing
DNP holds the printing industry's top class record nowadays, as it was originally founded as Shueisha in 1876. The company's building material department has also a long history, as it starting printing on the melanin decorative board from 1952. Since then, it has developed a variety of expressive techniques, proposing various building materials with various range from decorative boards, electronic paper, to light emitting panels. This year, which was the first time to exhibit, appealed printing skills to various building materials.
At the venue, it introduced a total of 80 patterns interior materials on the inside of a round tower with a height of 6m and exterior materials on the outside (and these were said to be only partial).
Furthermore, the wooden patterned floorings used in the entire booth, were corporate products printed on stain and scratch resistant films.
07.SUS
SUS is a manufacturer specializing in extrusion of aluminum. Since the amendment of the Building Standard Act in 2002, aluminum has also become a structural source, its skeleton-infill usage in the existing building, and the increase of demands of temporary facilities were appealed. In the SUS booth, "Baby Rest Room", "Unit House", "Smoking Booth" etc. were reproduced to the feature the aluminum material's lightness in weight and its high processing performance.
The baby rest room was combined with natural veneers to express soft and natural.
The unit house proposed the convenience of being able to carry each building on a truck by the prefab construction method.
Although smoking booths are currently being used at rest areas on expressways, demands for various facilities will be expected in the future as legislation for passive smoking prevention progresses.
08.Dyson
Dyson is a British company which has created a new field for home electronics and lighting with its unique technology development and design philosophy. In order to propose a better environment to more people, it is currently setting global strategy to eliminate the boundary between B to C and B to B.
At the Japan Shop venue, it introduced a series of products such as air-conditioning home appliances, dryers, and lighting equipment for consumer products, as well as facility-oriented products.
The new lighting product that was launched on March 6 "cu beam duo" was also displayed.
This lighting is a single lighting source that appears as both up-light and as a downlight by installing an original LED cooling system. Director Jake Dyson said the emergence of this lighting will bring a major change in the office, commercial space, and how private residence can become.
