KOKUYO is the biggest stationery maker in Japan. I think all Japanese will have used their long selling "campus note" at least once in their life. Here is a TV ad of this Campus note. Actually they say this notepad has been loved by eveybody for over 30 yeas. I talked about KOKUYO in this Kadokeshi topic in my diary. Since I hardly use pencils in my life, I hardly use erasers. But I love to go stationery shops and I am still a little excited to find something pretty.
Every year KOKUYO has a design award. This is the 2004 result list, the Grand Prix winner is this, and I like this idea: a "drape wall", you can put things on all the wires and also use it as a memo board. These are the 2003 award results. The Grand Prix winner is great. The top of the cap is round and big, so it is easy to push off. And also the cap can stand up like a tumble doll, so it is easy to put the cap back on. The tiny shape is a universal design concept. The pen is good too. This pen is attched to your finger, so you don't need to hold a pen to write. This cutter idea became a real product and I have it as a novelty of KDD. And this is the result from 2002. Ah! Kadokeshi was one of award winners that year. The Grand Prix winner is a stapler, you can set it on the desk and push with one hand. Another winner was an easy turn over note, and these push pins. All of them became real products and we can buy them, like this, this, and this. This is very nice idea for KOKUYO and also new product designers! By the way, I like this KESHI PIYO ad. Click the white button.
you can get the kadokeshi at jetpens.com. i liked those when it first came out...thanks for blogging about interesting stuff!
Posted by: dandre | Thursday, May 08, 2008 at 08:59 AM
Reminds me of the time I was at Muji, Tokyo, bought an eraser, the type looking like a pencil and with a string to pull to unwrap the paper for more of the eraser.
Posted by: huang | Tuesday, July 19, 2005 at 01:39 PM
where indeed? :0 notice BLOG is in capital letters. Tokio-kun..you have issues my friend. Are you turning into a hack-rabbit? (—_)
Posted by: robert | Saturday, July 16, 2005 at 12:57 PM
Hey, there's Tokio-kun!
Where's he been hiding at?
Posted by: abraxis | Saturday, July 16, 2005 at 04:13 AM
ネットでこうさぎやこうさぎをBLOGしなかったよ。
Posted by: BlogPetの「tokiokun」 | Friday, July 15, 2005 at 10:12 AM